GBS Pioneer Filippo Passerini: Digital Transformation Driven by Business Needs

GBS Innovators Share Lessons Learned on SSON Stage Every year, SSON invites global innovators to the stage to share their views on trends that are disrupting the way we do business. The idea is to inspire you to think outside the box – and maybe get to your own next "big idea". Right now, one of the most significant trends is the rise of robotics across all elements of the enterprise, transforming the way business is done. The implications will impact business beyond what many of us can comprehend today. Filippo Passerini is the former group president of GBS and Chief Information Officer at Procter & Gamble. Widely recognized as one of the world's most innovative and forward thinking CIOs, he led the integration of IT and the services groups to form one of the largest and most progressive Shared Services Organizations in the world. At Shared Services and Outsourcing Week 2017, he discussed how to stay ahead of the curve by focusing on agility, responsiveness, innovation, and employee productivity. SSON: P&G is often described as one of the most digitally advanced GBS models globally. What does digital transformation mean to you? How did you achieve this? The digital journey at P&G started with very specific business needs. In our case, one of the imperatives was to accelerate our product go-to-market. So we looked at those physical processes that could be digitized, making them faster and more agile. One example is consumer feedback to packaging design, where we replaced physical mockups with virtual reality. The result was that cycle times of weeks turned into days, or even hours. Another example is replacing thousands of business reports with cockpits. The intent was to clearly define “one version of the truth”, run the business more real-time, and enable faster and better decision-making across our organization. We also made significant use of visual analytics to support decision-making. The business case for digitalization is compelling. It’s often defined as social networks, cloud or mobile solutions… but it’s much more than that. There is a major value proposition on internal processes as well as, of course, on customer and consumer interaction. SSON: Given GBS’s capability, where do you think it's greatest value add will lie in the years ahead? The value proposition of GBS is continuing its upward trajectory. Lower costs and better service levels, which is where GBS started, remain important. However, in addition to that, GBS can create business value by driving business transformation in a number of ways. Indeed, no other organization operates at the intersection of information, technology and process management like GBS. Also, GBS can enable M&A activities by integrating/divesting businesses faster. For example, after the acquisition of Gillette, we were able to integrate the commercial operations in just 16 months. The speed and quality that GBS offered made this possible. Net, in the years ahead, GBS has the opportunity to move significantly “upstream” in the business value creation model. SSON: If a SSO/GBS is challenged with insufficient support or buy-in at the top level, what can it do to capture the attention (and the imagination) or the board? The only really effective intervention, in my experience, is starting with a clear identification and articulation of the Value Propositions for the business, and from there, committing in advance to specific business deliverables – business goals on cost, service quality, and innovation. SSON: What are the key relationships to foster in-house? The business unit heads are critical, so it’s important to invest in these relationships. In my experience, nothing replaces a one-to-one conversation, especially when there are challenges or critical decisions to be made. I always went directly to my business partners when I could. SSON: What is the most important skill for a Shared Services or GBS leader? Experience in process and project management is certainly an important skill for a GBS or Shared Services leader. That leads to people with Supply Chain or IT background, or Finance. However, there is so much value in integrating processes & technology, that a strong background in digital technology certainly helps. The ability to envision and manage complex operations are also, in my experience, critical skills.

GBS Pioneer Filippo Passerini: Digital Transformation Driven by Business Needs

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