GBS, GBO, SSC, GCC, CoE, E2E – State of the Nation
GBS and Transformation Trends, Benchmarks & Insights . . .
It was a delight to host Tom Bangemann and Josh Matthews of SSON Research & Analytics on Thursday.
They joined us to share the latest research on Global Business Services (GBS and related “word salad”) and Transformation (Business & Digital) in a webcast from my virtual wine cellar.
We had a good discussion and shared some laughs over a bottle of wine (afterwards, of course 😉).
Tom “wrote the book” as the author of “Shared Services in Finance & Accounting”, one of the earliest known works in the field.
They shared the SSON 2025 Survey Results with some interesting maturity trends, benchmarks, insights and highlights, and discussed some observations and experiences in the field.
We discussed the evolution of “transformation” (literally a metamorphosis, as in the caterpillar to the butterfly), and the tendency to confuse automation with transformation.
With Shared Services and GBS experiencing an early “mid-life crisis” after 30+ years, we discussed the fact that change seems to happen both very slowly and very suddenly. The past few years have exhibited much of this.
Whilst technological changes have been massive, it is interesting to pause for thought on whether the business impact we have delivered is quite so impressive. It reminds me of the “Solow Paradox”.
We have been guilty of taking elements of business processes, the metaphorical “caterpillars”, and putting them on motorized skateboards in the hope of great things, rather than focus on the potential of true metamorphosis towards the “butterfly”.
Of course, we had to extend the metaphor to include Generative and Agentic AI. It would be rude not to . . . 😉
The “end to end” process and GPO discussion was interesting, in that it continues to gather pace as one of the most significant GBS strategies, ranked as a top priority by 87% of leaders. At the same time, there is a growing trend for the Global Process Owners to be from outside GBS in the upstream functions, such as Procurement or Marketing.
For such a universally agreed “pivotal strategy”, it remains surprising how widely the concept of “end to end process” is interpreted, from niche services delivered by GBS to the entire value streams of the enterprise.
Experience demonstrates that a true “end to end” approach to these core value streams is where the metamorphosis really takes place. Just think of how Uber changed the way they contemplated the “Order to Cash” process . . . .
You can get the recording of our 30 minute presentation & discussion here . . .
You can get details of the “End to End Process & GPO Enablement Playbook and Program” here . . . .
You can even get Tom’s original book here . . . .
Thanks again to Tom Bangemann and Josh Matthews of SSON Research & Analytics
And thanks to you for reading . . .
GBS and Transformation Trends, Benchmarks & Insights
GBS, GBO, SSC, GCC, CoE, E2E – State of the Nation