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

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

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

Strategy and transformation leaders face mounting pressure to modernize operating models while maintaining business continuity and proving ROI. This session reveals how PepsiCo's transformation team redesigned their operating architecture to drive faster decisions, enable scalability, and embed intelligence—without derailing day-to-day operations.

Key Takeaways:

• How to diagnose which parts of your operating model are blocking speed, scale, and intelligent decision-making

• PepsiCo's playbook for balancing disruptive transformation with operational stability and stakeholder buy-in

• Organizational design principles that enable both centralized efficiency and distributed agility

Luke Short

Senior Director of Commercial Transformation for Sales Effectiveness and DX
PepsiCo

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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.

This session confronts the harsh reality of the skills gap and reveals practical strategies to reskill existing finance professionals, attract digital-native talent, and build future-ready teams capable of thriving in an AI-augmented, insight-driven finance environment.

Scott Henry

Finance Director OMD
Omnicom Media Group

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Fuel up, connect, and explore — your chance to grab a coffee, meet solution partners, and spark new conversations across Australia’s customer SSOW leadership community

This session reveals how Certis's Finance Transformation Lead tackled the modernization challenge, exploring strategies to upgrade or augment existing ERP platforms, integrate modern finance technologies, and create agile system architectures that enable faster closes, real-time insights, and seamless data flow without ripping out core infrastructure.

Key Takeaways:

• The agility crisis: how outdated ERP architectures create bottlenecks in reporting, planning, and cross-functional collaboration

• Certis's modernization approach: practical strategies to enhance ERP capabilities through cloud solutions, API integration, and complementary platforms

• Balancing risk and speed: governance frameworks for platform changes that maintain data integrity and compliance while enabling innovation

Shirley Hu

Finance Transformation Lead (ERP)
Certis

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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.