Enterprises that demonstrate mastery of shared services can sustain and
strengthen their market position for the economic upturn, according to
findings of an Accenture (NYSE:ACN) study released today.
By skillfully leveraging a mix of operating models, workforce management
techniques and technologies, shared services “masters” achieve business
objectives while expanding the scope of shared services to include
strategic, insight-based activities to contribute to overall
performance, the study also found.
The study, entitled “Achieving
High Performance through Shared Services: Lessons from the Masters,”
is based on a global survey of 275 executives who manage shared-services
organizations for large enterprises. Fewer than 10 percent of the
organizations they manage were identified as shared-services “masters”
in the study, achieving this status based on their self-reported
capabilities, their performance as measured against their objectives,
and their adoption of practices that contribute to growth and
profitability.
The study also revealed that the economic downturn has increased demand
for alternative service-delivery solutions, including insourced and
outsourced models operated offshore or onshore. Half (50 percent) of the
respondents said that the economic uncertainty has caused them to expand
and/or further leverage the benefits of shared services, with cost
takeout being a top objective for both the present and for the next
three years. Further, more than two-thirds (70 percent) of respondents
said they plan to increase the geographic reach of their shared-services
organization within the next three years, extending these services into
more countries.
“Shared services capabilities have been and continue to be critical
enablers for business’ survival during this downturn,” said Dan London,
managing director of Accenture’s Finance
& Performance Management practice. “As cost reductions and the
need to find additional ways of extracting value from existing
investments remain top priorities, well-run shared-services
organizations are the perfect vehicles for delivering added value.”
The report noted that shared-services masters have evolved their
operations over the last decade, enabling them to fulfill a broad set of
business objectives, ranging from cost cutting to the facilitation of
mergers and acquisitions, among others.
