SSOW ANZ 2026: The Next Frontier for Shared Services
12th – 13th May 2026
| InterContinental Double Bay, Sydney
Nina Muhleisen
Founder, Principal Consultant Three6
SSOW 2026 Day 1: Tuesday, 12 May 2026
2:30 PM People-led AI Adoption and Change
This session focuses on the human side of AI transformation, specifically how leaders can guide teams through AI adoption when confidence, capability and appetite vary widely.
Rather than concentrating on tools or technical maturity, the session explores how AI changes work, decision-making and identity, and why these shifts often trigger resistance, uncertainty or misalignment if not addressed deliberately.
Using a short case example from a large, purpose-driven organisation navigating AI adoption, I will show how leaders:
• Identified different AI readiness profiles across teams
• Shifted their engagement approach without slowing delivery
• Created safer, clearer pathways for experimentation and adoption
SSOW 2026 Day 2: Wednesday, 13 May 2026
9:50 AM Panel: Turning Automation and AI Investments into Measurable Business Impact for Shared Services
Automation and AI are eliminating traditional shared services roles at an accelerating pace, yet most organisations lack coherent strategies for reskilling displaced workers or attracting future-ready talent. This panel confronts the workforce crisis head-on—exploring how C-level leaders are redesigning talent strategies, reimagining career paths, and fundamentally shifting culture to build high-performing teams capable of thriving in an AI-augmented environment.
Key Takeaways:
• The skills gap reality: identifying which roles face obsolescence and what capabilities your future workforce actually needs
• Proven reskilling frameworks that successfully transition transactional workers into analytical, strategic, and AI-collaboration roles
• Talent acquisition strategies to attract digital-native professionals who view shared services as a career destination, not a dead-end
Panelists:
Rachel Anderson, Head of Shared Services, Sydney Water
Lisa Seary, Head of Shared Services, Boral
Espie Ang, Senior Manager Shared Services, Arnotts Group
Panel: Turning Automation and AI Investments into Measurable Business Impact for Shared Services
Most shared services organisations deploy automation and AI purely for cost savings, missing the bigger opportunity to create genuine business value. This tech talk demonstrates how leading SSOs are leveraging intelligent automation, AI, and digital platforms not just to eliminate tasks, but to generate insights, enable innovation, improve decision quality, and deliver measurable outcomes that transform shared services into strategic contributors.
Key Takeaways:
• Why cost-focused automation strategies leave 70% of potential value on the table in shared services environments
• Framework for identifying value creation opportunities beyond FTE reduction, analytics, speed, quality, and innovation enablement
• Real implementation examples: AI and automation use cases that delivered quantifiable business impact, not just efficiency
Panelists:
Kate Wadwell, Manager, Finance Operations & Director, Business Process Outsourcing Review (BPO), Bluescope
Nina Muhleisen, Founder, Three6
Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Nina.
Download The Latest Agenda
