Transactional work is being rapidly automated but most shared services leaders struggle to redeploy talent and capture strategic value. This panel explores how to break free from low-value processes, upskill teams for AI-augmented roles, and position shared services as genuine business partners driving innovation and insight.

Key Takeaways:

• Strategies to identify and eliminate transactional bottlenecks through agentic AI and intelligent automation

• Proven frameworks for reskilling displaced transactional workers into analytical, strategic roles

• Leadership approaches to shift organizational perception from cost center to value creator

Tim Johnson

Head of Intelligent Solutions Delivery
Suncorp Group Limited

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Mark Downie

General Manager, NOHC Finance
Resolution Life

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Daniel Kloza

General Manager - People Shared Services,
Bank of Queensland

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Siloed systems and fragmented data are crippling shared services efficiency, creating duplicate processes and preventing real-time visibility. This session tackles the hard reality of breaking down organizational and technical barriers to build a truly unified, agile enterprise backbone that enables seamless collaboration and faster decision-making.

Key Takeaways:

• Root causes of persistent silos and why traditional integration attempts fail in shared services environments

• Proven governance models and change management tactics to overcome organizational resistance and turf wars

• Technology strategies for creating a connected data architecture without expensive rip-and-replace projects

Sponsored by: Esker

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Fast, focused, and energising — speed networking is your chance to meet fellow attendees, exchange ideas, and spark new collaborations with your shared services peers

Siloed systems and fragmented data are crippling shared services efficiency, creating duplicate processes and preventing real-time visibility. This session tackles the hard reality of breaking down organizational and technical barriers to build a truly unified, agile enterprise backbone that enables seamless collaboration and faster decision-making.

Key Takeaways:

• Root causes of persistent silos and why traditional integration attempts fail in shared services environments

• Proven governance models and change management tactics to overcome organizational resistance and turf wars

• Technology strategies for creating a connected data architecture without expensive rip-and-replace projects

Fran Olidar

Head of Shared Services,
Virtus health

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Fuel up, connect, and explore - your chance to grab a coffee, meet solution partners, and spark new conversations across

Join us in the expo hall for a relaxed networking lunch with the full Shared Service community - connect with peers, explore the exhibition, and recharge for the afternoon ahead. For invited guests, exclusive VIP lunches will run concurrently bringing senior leaders and select partners together for high-impact conversations in a more intimate setting.

HR shared services is drowning in "best practice" advice that rarely translates to real-world success. This panel cuts through the theory to showcase tangible process improvements that delivered measurable impact—featuring HRSS leaders sharing their most successful transformations, the messy challenges they overcame, the mistakes they made along the way, and the concrete results that proved the effort worthwhile. Attendees will leave with practical, battle-tested approaches they can actually implement.

Key Takeaways:

• Real process redesign examples: specific workflows HRSS leaders transformed and the business problems they solved

• The implementation truth: obstacles faced, stakeholder resistance overcome, and trade-offs made to achieve success

• Quantifiable outcomes: efficiency gains, cost reductions, employee satisfaction improvements, and compliance enhancements delivered

Daniel Kloza

General Manager - People Shared Services,
Bank of Queensland

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This session showcases how innovative organisations are achieving breakthrough optimisation that delivers measurable value across multiple dimensions—proving AI can elevate both operational excellence and human impact.

Vern Griffith

General Manager, Shared Services and Employee Experience
Anglicare

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Most shared services teams invest in automation and AI to cut costs, but miss the far bigger opportunity to lift service quality, insight generation, and business outcomes. In this tech talk, Kimberley Haines shows how pairing intelligent automation and AI with outcome‑based service design, user‑intent thinking, and inclusive digital experiences unlocks value that traditional approaches leave behind.

Drawing on real transformation examples, this session demonstrates how leading SSOs move beyond task elimination to improve decision quality, enhance accessibility, enable innovation, and elevate shared services from process engines to strategic contributors.

Key Takeaways:

• Why cost‑focused automation strategies leave most of the potential value on the table — and how to avoid the common traps

• A practical framework for identifying value creation opportunities beyond FTE savings, including analytics uplift, quality improvements, innovation enablement, and experience gains

• Real examples of automation and AI use cases that delivered measurable business impact, not just operational efficiency

Kimberley Haines

Human Resources Services and Systems Manager
AustNet

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Celebrate excellence, innovation, and impact at the SSOW Impact Awards. Join us as we recognise the leaders, teams, and initiatives redefining service delivery, enterprise value, and transformation across ANZ. From breakthrough automation projects to bold operating model reinventions, these awards spotlight the work that is truly moving the industry forward