What have been your greatest challenges over the last 12 months within shared services and GBS?

I think when you cast out into the future and look at where the shared services industry is going, at least from my personal experience, the opportunity to craft out complex transformation and change is something the industry does really well. However, over the last five years or so, there seems to be a massive knowledge drain, with people leaving the business or organizations relying on third-party providers or the big four to build out a lot of that capacity and capability. As we look toward the future, the question becomes how large enterprises can create internal capacity and capability within Global Business Services (GBS) to drive change management. Can this capability now largely reside within GBS as a global capability? These are some of the key opportunities mixed with the influence of the future of work and corporate transformation, reimagining corporate functions largely enabled by AI. I've been having fun with chat GPT, exploring its influence in writing intelligent and insightful financial reports for CEOs, CFOs, and sales leaders globally. These are opportunities, but they also pose a challenge—do organizations have the internal capacity and capability, potentially putting traditional service providers out of the picture as enterprises build in-house capabilities for the future.

How do you see shared services and GBS evolving in the coming years?

I see the biggest value in the change and drift in conversations. Perhaps five years ago, the focus would have been heavily on robotic process automation, but the shift now is very much toward people and culture. Having worked across three industries in the last 15 years, 70% of the real debate and challenge within shared services and Global Business Services is about people and culture. This is now evident in conversations and interactions. The core of the business depends on the industry, representing about 20%, and technology takes up about 10%. GBS organizations and shared services have matured, and this maturity is one of the most significant values, allowing the sharing of knowledge and learning from colleagues in the industry.

What advice/words of wisdom would you give to someone who is just starting their shared services and GBS journey?

Looking at my career over the last two and a half decades, if I were to advise a younger version of myself, I would emphasize the opportunity to mentor colleagues. It's not just about going far and wide; it's about going deep, being deeply rooted in process skills, architecture skills, and data skills. Layering that up with stakeholder management is crucial, almost transitioning from being a manager to a leader. In my world, we call this having t-shaped skills—being able to go wide but also having the resilience to go deep. To my younger self, I'd advise starting early, investing in these skills, and going deep, much like investing in the financial market.

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