What are some of the key takeaways or insights that you gained from the panel discussions, roundtables or workshops at SSOW Europe 2023?

I think three of the main takeaways for me are around purpose, with many GBS organizations reevaluating and repositioning their purpose. The second one is talent, focusing on leadership development tracks and people. And the third piece is around experience, both customer and employee experience, with a significant focus on branding of GBS to support that.

How will shared services and GBS evolve in the coming years, and what role will events like this play in that evolution?

A couple of things that have come up this time are around branding, as I mentioned, and the whole ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and sustainability push. I think you're going to see a lot more GPS functions starting to support that. These events can help with educating people who aren't there yet, and for me, this is just a big community to help each other. We're not competitors; we're all here to help, and everybody's very free with their information, benchmarking, and sharing of information, which makes it a really powerful event.

What one topic would you like to see on the 2024 agenda, and why?

For next year, I'd like to see branding brought in a lot more, with those that have been successful leading the way and showing everybody else how it works and how their GBS is perceived, both internally and in the external job market. I think that's very important for a lot of us.

Were there any particularly memorable moments or highlights from SSOW Europe 2023 that stood out to you?

For me, the interview with Johnny Wilkinson was probably the standout moment for this year.

If you could summarise SSOW Europe 2023 in a few words, what would they be?

Yeah, for me, the power of this is the community, getting everybody together, sharing ideas, networking. I think what was a really nice surprise was that almost 50 percent of the people put their hands up and said they were new, so it was great to get them on board. That's our future of GBS, so getting them indoctrinated and on the train has been fantastic for this week.

If you enjoyed this interview, don't miss the opportunity to explore the agenda for Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Europe 2024 here! This event promises exclusive insights unavailable elsewhere, guiding you towards success on your shared services and GBS journey.