Sson : Shared Services & Outsourcing Network

In this episode of SSO Next, hosted by Sally Fletcher, Global Managing Editor at SSON, we continue the conversation on one of today's most pressing leadership topics: AI in the enterprise. This episode turns the spotlight to the C-suite and explores what it truly means to lead in an AI-driven world. Our guest, Ansgar Thiessen, Head of Global Central Operations at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, discusses how artificial intelligence is transforming the skills, mindsets, and expectations of future leaders. Exploring how the rapid pace of innovation is altering decision-making and strategic planning, how organizations can handle change fatigue during ongoing digital transformation, and what effective AI leadership looks like in practice. Drawing on his hands-on experience implementing AI within Swiss Re GBS, Ansgar shares real-world insights into scaling digital, data, and GBS capabilities across a global operation. A must-listen for executives and shared services leaders navigating the realities of AI, transforma

AI is something that is truly transforming global business services, in particular Agentic AI, and there is an incredible amount of discussion around the right and wrong way to use it and implement it within GBS.  Two of the topics we hear the most questions about at SSON are regarding buy vs. build and platform vs. point solutions. There is a lot of information online regarding this topic, but it can often be biased, dependent on whether it's written by a vendor and exactly what their solution is. Therefore, SSON invited AI expert Doug Shannon onto the Podcast to give his seasoned perspective. Doug is a Visionary Leader in Intelligent Automation and AI.  He is a pioneer in driving innovation, operational excellence, and strategic vision across global organizations. Recognized among the Top 50 Intelligent Automation Leaders and twice awarded as a Top 25 Thought Leader in this space. During this episode Doug and I discuss the following resources: SSON Research & Analytics State of the Industry Report, of

2025 is an era of transformation for Global Business Services. Whether it’s operating model transformation, process transformation, or digital transformation, expectations are high. We expect these initiatives to dramatically reduce operating costs, improve cross-functional alignment, and increase customer loyalty.   However, more often than not, these transformations fail - and one of the primary reasons is the experience. While technology may be in place, the actual work - how it flows across teams and systems - remains fragmented.   With that in mind, SSON invited experience and transformation expert Christophe Martel, CEO of FOUNT Global, to talk about what’s missing - and what needs to change.   FOUNT believes “The future of work is flow.” Their platform surfaces friction in how work gets done, using input from employees to help organizations break down silos, remove hidden blockers, and improve productivity across complex environments.  

This episode is the 3rd in our careers focused series, recorded on-site at Shared Services & Outsourcing Week America, SSON’s largest event. The event bought together over 1100 participants, 100 exhibitors and 200 thought leaders. I took the opportunity to interview some of the shared services leaders onsite about their career-paths. In this episode, we are featuring Lorena Espinosa, O2C Value Creation Consultant, Mars, and CK Taneja, SVP Transformation, Innovation and Resiliency, Northern Trust. During the episode Lorena speaks about her experience with SSON's GBS Certification, if you're interested in learning more about this or registering for the next cohort, the information can be found here. As a sidenote, both these interviews were recorded onsite at our flagship summit Shared Services & Outsourcing Week North America, so there may be some slight background noise! If you have any feedback, someone you want to nominate to be profiled or a topic you would love me to cover then please add me on Li

This episode is the 2nd in our careers focused series, recorded on-site at Shared Services & Outsourcing Week America, SSON’s largest event. The event bought together over 1100 participants, 100 exhibitors and 200 thought leaders. I took the opportunity to interview some of the shared services leaders onsite about their career-paths. In this episode, we are featuring Adam Holmes, SVP Head of Strategic Operations and Global Communications, Publicis Re:Sources and Carolina Okrongli, Chief of Staff, Nokia Business Services. As a sidenote, both these interviews were recorded onsite at our flagship summit Shared Services & Outsourcing Week North America, so there may be some slight background noise! If you have any feedback, someone you want to nominate to be profiled or a topic you would love me to cover then please add me on LinkedIn or email me at sally.fletcher@ssonetwork.com  And of course if you like what you hear then please check out the agenda for our next Shared Services & Outsourcing Week No

Last month I was lucky enough to go to Shared Services & Outsourcing Week America, SSON’s largest event attracting over 1100 participants, 100 exhibitors and 200 thought leaders. I took the opportunity to interview some of the shared services leaders onsite about their career-paths. Over the next few weeks we will be releasing several episodes profiling shared services professionals with different career paths, to hopefully inspire you and demonstrate what a shared services career is all about. On today’s podcast we’re featuring Kendra Lovitt, Director of Relationship Management and Governance, McKesson GBS and Kiran Mann, CEO, Brar’s. They’ll be giving insight into what their job entails and the skills you need to hone to work successfully in their roles. If you have any feedback, someone you want to nominate to be profiled or a topic you would love me to cover then please add me on LinkedIn or email me at sally.fletcher@ssonetwork.com.  And of course if you like what you hear and you want to be part of

The shared services model has typically been one of cost-savings, with organizations saving millions of dollars by offshoring work to low-cost locations. However, as the model has become more mature, creating dramatic cost-savings becomes more difficult – as the changes that produce results (such as standardization and centralization) have already been done. At the same time, many organizations are looking to their shared service centre to provide additional value, this can come through data-backed insights, taking on new-services or driving revenue – which is what we are going to talk about in this episode of the podcast! Joining SSON on the podcast is Priyanka Grover, Go to market lead for Recievables Automation at FIS. Priyanka will share her insight into how you can drive revenue, combat fraud and enable cost-savings via AI and process improvement.  For more great content from FIS see below: Podcast: Future of O2C Trends & Insights Whitepaper: The Definitive Guide to Choosing Customer to Cash Softwa

As we head into 2025, the business world is transforming at lightning speed—we’re seeing new evolutions in the world of AI almost weekly, there is a huge and much needed focus on sustainability, a push for automation, and naturally, there is an incredibly dynamic political and economic environment, all which have an impact on GBS. They say forewarned is forearmed so in today’s episode, we’ll break down the Top Global Business Services Trends you need to watch to stay ahead of the curve. In order to help me explore the innovations, challenges, and opportunities shaping 2025, we invited Chazey Partners to be part of the episode. Joining me from Chazey are Phil Searle, CEO and Co-Founder, Lee Coulter, Chief Transformation Officer, Esteban Carrill, Executive Director, LATAM and Tim O'Donnell, SVP and CRO.  Throughout the episode we reference Chazey’s report Transformation in the Age of AI, which you can download here.

Did you know that, according to SSON's State of the Industry Report 2024, over half of the SSO/GBS leverage outsourcing? However, the nuanced landscape of outsourcing can make talent management all the more difficult.  So, in this week's episode, we delve into the critical talent management decisions shared services leaders face. We're joined by Brad Killinger, CEO of Sapience Analytics, who discusses the importance of leveraging analytics to thrive amidst today's macro talent challenges, and the transformative power of workforce analytics.  If you enjoy this episode, please join us for our webinar with Bradley on how to Level Up Your SSO/GBS with the Power of Workforce Analytics.   

In this week’s episode we delve into the future of order to cash and the trends you should be looking out for in the next 12 months. We’re joined by Keith Cowart, Global Market Owner, Automated Finance at FIS, who gives his expert advice on improving order-to-cash processes. This includes how to create a consumer-like experience, assessing customer-risk, artificial intelligence, and payments. Listen now for a short, snappy update on the O2C trends you need to be aware of.   If you enjoy this episode, please join us for our webinar with Keith on Modernizing the Office of the CFO Through Finance Automation.  You can also download the following whitepaper The Definitive Guide to Choosing Customer-to-Cash Software in 2025

In this week's episode SSON talks to Wendy Walker, Solution Principal of Tax Information Reporting at Sovos, about IRS Modernization. Wendy unravells the always complicated world of tax and breaks down exactly what the latest IRS Modernization involves, how it will impact data protection and security, and the steps organizations should take to prepare for these changes. In the episode we reference the following e-Book and webinar which are great companions for this episode. See the links below to download and register. The IRS Modernization eBook  Webinar: IRS Business Systems Modernization: Preparing Your Organization for Reporting Changes

This week we're talking to Jonathan Tam, Head of APAC People Services, foodpanda.  Jonathan is an experienced People Leader with more than 20 years in Operations and Project Management. He has supported areas across Customer Service, Information Technology, Banking and Finance, and Human Resource Delivery. Jonathan will be speaking at SSON’s SSOW Philippines event which takes place on August 6-9 in Manila. Ahead of his session, we invited him to join us on the podcast to talk all things people. Jonathan will be speaking on the topic of – Employee Experience at Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Philippines. Listeners to SSO Next can access 10% off the ticket price for the event by quoting the code TENOFF when they book. Reach out to sally.fletcher@iqpc.de for more details. 

Last month, SSON ran one of their most successful Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Europe’s ever! Over 900 shared services and outsourcing professionals joined together in sunny Lisbon to discuss everything from Generative AI to change management to process intelligence.  In order to give you a flavour of the trends discussed, we asked 10 speakers for their top take-away from the conference.   SSON’s next European event is held in London on the 14-16 October, with an incredible key-note, Lord Sebastian Coe of Olympics fame! Listeners to SSON Next can get 10% discount of the ticket price for this event by quoting the code SSONEXT10 when you register. You can check the website or email me at sally.fletcher@iqpc.de for more details. SSOW London  

This week we spoke with Karan R Bhatia, Head of GBS Asia Hub, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare. Sanofi recently set up a global business service center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which was a great success and able to grow quickly.  In this episode Karan talks us through why Sanofi chose to set up in Malaysia, the challenges they overcame and how Karan’s own entrepreneurial spirit has been crucial in bringing innovation to the GBS. Karan will be speaking at Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Malaysia which is taking place on June 10-13 in KL. Listeners to SSO Next are able to access discounts the ticket price for the event by quoting SSONext when they register https://www.ssonetwork.com/events-ssomalaysia

There are hundreds of stories of the benefits and opportunities that lie within AI, but when it comes to practical, real-life use-cases, the list gets smaller very quickly. That’s why we were delighted to interview Jannette Perez, AVP Finance, L’Oréal and Nathanael L’Heureux, Chief Solutions Ambassador, Oversight, about L’Oréal’s recent AI implementation. In this episode our interviewees break-down their recent presentation at Shared Services & Outsourcing Week, giving the drivers, outcomes, and challenges of how they’re using AI within their travel & expense process. You can find out more about Oversight here.

This week’s episode provides something a bit different, a glimpse into SSON’s largest event Shared Services & Outsourcing Week North America. The event, which ran at the end of March, attracted over 150 speakers and 1000 attendees. For those of you who weren’t able to make it, we wanted to provide a sneak peek and some of the key takeaways from onsite. Note: Listeners to SSO Next are entitled to discounts of the ticket price for selected in-person events around the world by quoting the code SSO Next when they register. Details of upcoming events can be found here. 

Last month, at SSON’s flagship event in Orlando, Allianz Services received the award for the World’s Best GBS.  The award, which is hosted by SSON Research & Analytics, aims to identify a Global Business Services that represents "the world's best" based on contributing core value to the business in terms of cash, impact on working capital, margin and market growth. This shifts the focus from transactional efficiency, which defined shared services in the past, to supporting business success in a far more strategic way.   In this conversation, we discuss with Turan, Allianz’s transformation in the space of process mining, customer experience and talent development, that led to them winning this award. We also get a sneak peek into the keynote presentation Turan delivered onsite in Orlando, “Redefining GBS in the Next 10 Years.”  If you enjoy the podcast please do sign up for our webinar on the World’s Best GBS 2024: Winner Spotlight & Interview

Digital workflows are replacing paper-based processes, streamlining operations and improving efficiency. This trend is driving SSO/GBS to equip their workforce with the necessary digital skills to operate and excel in the new technology-driven ecosystem. As a result, talent capabilities are under the spotlight, with organizations focused on upskilling and reskilling employees, developing new talent models, and embracing flexible work arrangements to attract and retain the really key talent they so desperately need to meet their objectives. One GBS who is doing a particularly good job here is Commerz Global Service Solutions (a subsidiary of Commerzbank AG). That’s why we invited Arne Graeber their CEO to talk to us about his talent strategy. This podcast is in conjunction with Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Malaysia. Mr Graeber is speaking at the event, which is held in Kuala Lumpur on June 10-13, on the topic of Creating a High Performance Culture at Commerz Global Service Solutions. Listeners of the

In this episode, Sally Fletcher, Head of SSON Digital, speaks to Akhilesh Kohli, GBS APAC Head, Philips, about the pivotal role played by Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in nurturing talent and fostering future value creation. Upskilling and ongoing learning are areas that Philips GBS has long prioritized. They also aim to fuel innovation through cross-functional collaboration and equipping their talent with emerging technologies. All with an eye to the future and ensuring they’re prepared for whatever comes their way. Akhilesh is a keynote speaker at Shared Services & Outsourcing Week India. Listeners to the SSON Next Podcast can access a Buy2Get1Free promotion for the event, on the 4-day pass only, valid till 5 April 2024.  Promo code: BUY2FREE1

Cost saving has always been an absolute fundamental for shared services, however in the last few years, cost as a theme has slipped into the background, being overshadowed by a drive for value. This is all about to change. Cost as a focus is back, in a big way.  With an age-old topic such as cost-savings, it’s important to re-examine best practices and make sure you’re still ticking off all the obvious opportunities. However, with AI tools becoming cheaper and new techniques being developed in areas such as digital transformation and process improvement there may also be new opportunities to drive down costs and impress your CFO. In this episode Phil Searle CEO and Founder, Chazey Partners, and Lee Coulter, Global Head of Transformation, Chazey Partners discuss their top tips for cost savings. Including supply-chain transformation, investing in the right technology and the areas that will make an impact today! If you enjoy this podcast – you can catch the Chazey Partners workshop at SSO Week North America, wh