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The future of shared services is touchless

by Sonal Bhagia, Sarah Qin, Priyanka Mohan, Ankush Bhadrish
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    2 minute read 23 October 2020

    The future of shared services is touchless The rising importance of digital GBS capabilities during COVID-19

    2 minute read 23 October 2020
    • Sonal Bhagia United States
    • Sarah Qin United States
    • Priyanka Mohan United States
    • Ankush Bhadrish United States
    • Ankush Bhadrish United States
    • Save for later
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    COVID-19 has provided some insights into future opportunities for shared services organizations to consider as they seek to thrive in a "new normal."

    COVID-19 has become a catalyst for digital automation in shared services. As shown in the figure, the percentage of shared services leaders who planned to accelerate digital capabilities in their global business services (GBS) organizations rose by 10 percentage points between April and July 2020. This increase suggests the growing importance of digital in GBS operations as the pandemic went on. While the pandemic has heightened focus on cost reduction and location diversification, it has accelerated the desire to strengthen digital capabilities the most.

    Digital GBS capabilities took on more importance as the pandemic lengthened

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    Responses from a 2020 Deloitte webcast survey indicate that order to cash/procure to pay was significantly affected by COVID-19 due to the prevalent use of manual check payments to vendors. Payments via physical checks led to delays and halted overall manual activities in certain circumstances. At one CPG company, suppliers and vendors had to either adopt a company’s new automated system for payments or wait until offices opened to receive check payments.

    According to a BPO service provider lead, the COVID-19 crisis “has heightened the need for accelerating digital transformation [in GBS], and many clients who were unwilling to engage in the conversation earlier are now realizing the need for it … using the outbreak situation to jump-start digital initiatives to serve their customers.”1 The good news is that plans to increase shared services’ use of digital were often in place even before the pandemic. Our 2019 Global Shared Services Survey found that more than 80% of shared services leaders surveyed expected to implement or increase their use of robotics and heighten their focus on digital experience over the next three to five years.2 We will continue to monitor the market through insights derived from the upcoming 2021 shared services survey.

    Read Global business services and shared services organizations moving forward: From pandemic to thriving for additional insights on how the COVID-19 pandemic challenged conventional wisdom and paved a path to the new normal.

    Acknowledgments

    Cover artwork by: Nagaraju Mangala

    Endnotes
      1. GBS client/vendor COVID-19 discussion, April 9, 2020. View in article

      2. Deloitte, 2019 Global Shared Services Survey, 2019. View in article

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    Topics in this article

    Digital Transformation , Automation , Chief Financial Officer (CFO) , Strategy

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    Sonal Bhagia

    Sonal Bhagia

    Sonal Bhagia, Deloitte Consulting LLP, is a leader in Deloitte’s Global Business Services practice focused on global service delivery transformations. She has more 15 years of extensive experience guiding global organizations through their shared services and outsourcing journeys, from strategic assessment and operating model design through successful facilitation of transition and implementation. She has served clients in multiple industries, including insurance, consumer products, manufacturing and industrial products, and financial services.

    • sbhagia@deloitte.com
    Ankush Bhadrish

    Ankush Bhadrish

    Manager

    Ankush Bhadrish, a manager with Deloitte Consulting LLP, works with finance leaders to advise them on their future-state operating models, identify and define future-state shared services and/or outsourcing partners and strategies, implement relevant digital strategies, and drive organizational cost transformation.

    • abhadrish@deloitte.com
    Sarah Qin

    Sarah Qin

    Consultant

    Sarah Qin, Deloitte Consulting LLP, is a consultant in Deloitte’s Finance & Enterprise Performance practice. She has worked with clients across industries on large-scale digital transformations that include SAP S/4HANA and Workday implementations. Prior to her time at Deloitte, she completed rotations in financial planning and analysis, commercial finance, and investor relations at a major consumer goods company. Qin holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

    • sarqin@deloitte.com
    Priyanka Mohan

    Priyanka Mohan

    Manager

    Priyanka Mohan, Deloitte Consulting LLP, is a manager in Deloitte’s Finance & Enterprise Performance practice with more than 11 years of experience in shared services, outsourcing, operating model design, data analysis and transformation, and business process improvement. She has managed and led large-scale finance transformation projects that have included defining the future finance strategy across digital and operating model transformation. Prior to her career in consulting, Mohan was an external auditor focusing on the financial services industry.

    • prmohan@deloitte.com

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