More organisations are delivering value to their bottom line through effective implementation of shared services initiatives, according to the results of Deloitte’s sixth biennial Global Shared Services Survey.

It also found that organisations headquartered in Australia and New Zealand continue to establish and/or expand their shared services operation. Greater interest in shared services by state governments, especially in NSW, has lead to the creation or expansion of a number of domestic SSCs.

The global survey of 270 executives shows an 11 percent increase in the number of Shared Services Centres (SSCs) per company since 2009, with companies reporting benefits that go beyond cost reduction, such as improved controls and processes, increased data analytics and new opportunities for growth.

Donal Graham, Leader of Deloitte’s Shared Services Consulting practice said: “In Australia, like elsewhere, we find that shared services centres help organisations, both public and private, to reduce their cost base, enhance and simplify organisational processes, and also provide a platform for growth opportunities.”

“To gain value from shared services, organisations need to align their approach with their broader corporate strategy. To be successful, it is critical that there is a heavy focus on change management elements such as communication, training, and executive leadership. The power of an organisation’s culture cannot be underestimated or ignored. These are aspects that many organisations underestimate and under invest in with significant impact upon the speed and success of shared services implementation,” said Mr Graham.

Globally, the survey identified a decline in shared services located in mature economies but an increase in centres in other locations, particularly in Asia Pacific and Latin America.

“This is indicative of an increasing number of global organisations using offshore shared service locations. Australia is not immune to this and we see increasing signs of Australian companies embracing process offshoring, usually through a third party provider,” said Graham.

“We can expect to see this trend to increase for both cost and skills reasons and we also believe that the Australian government and business community needs to become more realistic about offshoring as a legitimate business strategy. We are part of a global economy and with our current low unemployment rate, offshoring is a viable long term option for businesses and can ultimately be of benefit to Australian society.

“Our global survey also highlights that shared services organisations are not just a way to reduce costs but can add value with activities such as making better use of data analytics with the use of enterprise information. Shared services are being tasked with how to better leverage information that is currently being underutilised, provide new performance measures of information usage and business performance and ultimately, help the wider organisation to optimise the value of information assets,” concluded Mr Graham.