SSOW ANZ 2026: The Next Frontier for Shared Services
12th – 13th May 2026
| InterContinental Double Bay, Sydney
SSOW 2026 Day 2: Wednesday, 13 May 2026
9:00 am - 9:10 am
Chair’s Opening Remarks | The Big Picture: What’s Ahead for Australia’s SSOW Community
9:10 am - 9:40 am
Executive Keynote: 2030 Vision or Crisis? The Existential Choices Facing Shared Services Leaders Today
Praveen Sasidharan -
Chief Insurance Services Officer,
Allianz Services
Shared services stands at an inflection point—emerging technologies, changing workforce expectations, and evolving business demands are fundamentally reshaping what service delivery must become. This executive keynote debate brings together visionary senior leaders to challenge conventional thinking, explore radically different futures for shared services, and define the critical strategic choices and transformations required today to ensure relevance, impact, and leadership in the 2030 enterprise.
Key Takeaways:
• Competing visions of shared services' future: from hyper-automated utility to strategic innovation hub—which path wins?
• The existential threats ignored by most SSO leaders: market disruption, talent exodus, and stakeholder disintermediation
• Bold organizational, technological, and cultural pivots required now to position shared services for 2030 relevance
9:40 am - 10:15 am
PANEL DISCUSSION: Elevating the Role of Shared Services, Becoming a Trusted Advisor to the Business
Frank Cselko -
Shared Services Transformation Director,
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Shakira Snowdon - Country Head of Philippines, Pepper Group Limited
Pablo Nico - Finance Shared Services Director - ANZ, Live Nation APAC
This executive panel explores how leading SSO executives are fundamentally repositioning their relationships with stakeholders through proactive value delivery, data-driven insights, sophisticated engagement models, and demonstrable business impact that commands respect and earns genuine partnership status.
Key Takeaways:
• Root causes of the trust deficit: why business stakeholders remain skeptical of shared services strategic capabilities
• Stakeholder engagement strategies that shift relationships from vendor-client dynamics to true collaborative partnerships
• Leveraging data and analytics to provide business insights that position shared services as an indispensable advisor
Frank Cselko
Shared Services Transformation DirectorNSW Department of Communities and Justice
10:15 am - 10:55 am
Fireside Chat | Building Resilient GBS in Times of Disruption
Amanda Roser -
General Manager of Corporate Services,
Guide Dogs Queensland
Kym Davis - Director, Dr Kym Davis
Shakira Snowdon - Country Head of Philippines, Pepper Group Limited
Economic volatility, geopolitical instability, technology failures, and talent disruptions are hitting shared services with increasing frequency and severity—yet most organizations lack genuine resilience beyond basic continuity plans. This session explores how forward-thinking SSO and GBS leaders are building adaptive, anti-fragile operations capable of absorbing shocks, maintaining performance under pressure, and emerging stronger from inevitable disruptions.
Key Takeaways:
• Why traditional business continuity planning fails in today's multi-threat environment and what true resilience requires
• Operating model design principles that build flexibility, redundancy, and rapid recovery capabilities without sacrificing efficiency
• Technology and workforce strategies that enable shared services to pivot quickly during economic, operational, or talent crises
10:55 am - 11:30 am
Morning Recharge in the EXPO Hall
Fuel up, connect, and explore - your chance to grab a coffee, meet solution partners, and spark new conversations across
Australia’s leadership community.
11:30 am - 12:00 pm
Outsourcing 4.0: Leveraging AI, Automation, and Strategic Partnerships for Market Advantage
Reza Akbari -
Associate Director - Engagement,
CQ University.
This session explores Outsourcing 4.0, where AI, robotics, IoT, and machine learning fundamentally transform what outsourcing can deliver. Drawing on insights from The Road to Outsourcing 4.0, learn how forward-thinking organisations are shifting from transactional, cost-driven partnerships to digitally-enabled, strategic relationships that create resilience, innovation capability, and genuine competitive advantage.
Key Takeaways:
• The obsolescence of traditional outsourcing: why cost arbitrage models are failing as automation eliminates the labor advantage
• Digital enablers transforming outsourcing: how AI, RPA, IoT, and machine learning create exponentially greater value than labor-based models
• Strategic partnership frameworks: moving from vendor management to collaborative relationships focused on innovation, resilience, and mutual value
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
Shared Services and Outsourcing: From Insight to Impact — The Convergence of Theory and Practice
Kym Davis -
Director,
Dr Kym Davis
This session bridges practice and theory to explore SS&O's evolution, current state, and the next frontier—where tomorrow's operating models and leadership capabilities will be defined.
Key Takeaways:
• How SS&O has matured from cost arbitrage through GBS standardization to AI-enabled delivery and strategic value creation
• Why the meeting of practitioner innovation and academic research elevates SS&O from tactical function to strategic discipline
• Emerging challenges, opportunities, and the evolved leadership capabilities required to shape SS&O's future impact
• Frameworks and approaches practitioners can apply immediately to position SS&O as enterprise architects, not just service providers
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
Balancing Global Delivery and Local Relevance in the New Era of Outsourcing
Michael Wilson -
Senior Vice President, Business Operations - Global Delivery Services,
Lee Hecht Harrison
Organizations face mounting pressure to deliver both economies of scale and localized agility—a tension that traditional centralized models cannot resolve. This session explores innovative approaches to balance global efficiency with local relevance without sacrificing either.
Key Takeaways:
• Why rigid global standardization is creating stakeholder friction and limiting business effectiveness in diverse markets
• Operating model designs that enable "glocalization"—centralized efficiency with decentralized flexibility and local customization
• Governance frameworks that empower local adaptation while maintaining global standards, compliance, and cost discipline
Michael Wilson
Senior Vice President, Business Operations - Global Delivery ServicesLee Hecht Harrison
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Networking Lunch & VIP Hosted Lunches
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
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
HR LEADERSHIP PANEL | The Process Reality Check: What HRSS Leaders Actually Fixed (And How)
Daniel Kloza -
General Manager - People Shared Services,,
Bank of Queensland
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
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
NextGen Org Design: Streamlined Workflows and Teams Built for Change
This session reveals how innovative HRSS organizations are building adaptive structures, modular workflows, and change-resilient cultures that thrive amid uncertainty rather than resist it.
Key Takeaways:
• Organizational design principles that enable flexibility and rapid adaptation without sacrificing operational stability or efficiency
• Workflow architecture strategies: building modular, scalable processes that accommodate new technologies and changing requirements seamlessly
• Change readiness frameworks: cultivating teams and cultures that embrace transformation as continuous evolution, not disruptive events
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm
HR in the Age of AI: Redesigning Work and Workforce
This session showcases how innovative organizations are achieving breakthrough optimization that delivers measurable value across multiple dimensions—proving AI can elevate both operational excellence and human impact.
Key Takeaways:
• The dual optimization opportunity: using AI to drive efficiency gains while dramatically improving employee satisfaction and outcomes
• Success stories: HRSS organizations achieving faster resolution times, lower costs, and higher employee NPS simultaneously through intelligent automation
• Strategic value creation: how AI-powered HR services generate predictive workforce insights that inform business decisions and talent strategy
