Shared Services Should Grab Revenue Streams Like Marketing

Shared Services should grab revenue streams like marketing As we’re nearing ‘mission accomplished’ in transactional cost management via shared services, the goalposts are moving. Here’s what’s next: revenue-generating functions like ‘marketing’. Let’s get going We have a quirky little social media tool that we use inhouse called Yammer. It’s wonderful in helping us to connect across functions and share information that’ll spark something new. I have my colleague Rani Kuppusamy, who promotes our Asian events, to thank for alerting me to a little gem by one Tim Williams, who recently posted an article claiming that marketing should be a profit center, not a cost center. He quotes Peter Drucker, who said that business enterprises essentially have 2 functions that produce revenue: innovation, and marketing. Everything else is a cost (meaning: HR, Finance, Legal, Operations, etc). Tim goes on to make the distinction of marketing as a 'proactive growth driver', as opposed to marketing as a 'reactive service provider'. While the rest of the piece veered into ‘marketing-world speak,’ this first part captured my imagination. I am not sure how or where, but this is something shared services can certainly get its teeth into. Viewed as a holistical function, marketing has all the traits of being ripe for a shared services model. I know I’ve had a few conversations already with some of you who are operating ahead of the curve. But what about the rest of you? Are you getting ready to grab a revenue generating function and apply your shared services genius to it? Let’s hear it - comment here. [inlinead]

Shared Services Should Grab Revenue Streams Like Marketing

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