Who shares wins?
Melanie Knight, Head of Shared Services, Capgemini believes that an assessment of what adds value to a finance function is necessary to free up the retained function for a more strategic role.
18 October 2007
Publication
There is an assumption that once the transaction element has been reduced, the retained function steps in to become the strategic partner to advise business and better support critical decisions with a more commercially focused attitude.
However, once a shared service agenda starts to gather pace, focus is often on the implementation of the part that leaves the main organisation the shared service centre. This may be for a number of reasons. It’s easy to see the business case you’ve got standardisation, you’re taking heads out but also it’s more tangible.
You’re setting up a new organisation, you’ve got a new shared services director there, so time and again focus goes onto the optimising of the transactional element at the expense of the retained function.
Actually, a client of mine described the transaction element as one part of the function of a jigsaw and I like this analogy as it’s a dual transformation that’s required but often missed.
FDs are so used to controlling that transactional relationship that the first question is how they manage when control is passed to the shared service centre. That’s a whole piece to work through, and then I think it’s really an assessment of what would be required and what would add value to the business or what can be done that wasn’t done before. So I suspect there needs to be an assessment of what would be required to add value and then a skills assessment.
It’s important to consider both the shared/outsourced and retained elements together. If you consider either in isolation, you’re not getting the full benefits that are available to your organisation.
Melanie was speaking at the Insider Business Club, a weekly live online event tackling pressing issues with in-depth analysis and exclusive comment from influential players in the financial world.
Melanie, a CIMA qualified accountant, has been working in the shared services arena for over 8 years. She has spent much of her professional career supporting both private and public sector companies through the shared services lifecycle.
To find out more about Capgemini’s approach to Shared Services, click here.
For further information on Capgemini’s Finance Transformation practice, click here.
