Poland among the most preferred countries to locate shared services centers
Poland is one of five countries that are considered as new locations or relocations of existing shared service centers (SSC).
According to the "Global Shared Services 2017 Survey Report" prepared by the Deloitte, the efficiency of shared service centers increases on average by 8%. Every year almost three quarters of respondents claim that the increase is by 5% or more. According to Deloitte experts, the rapidly evolving robotic process automation will completely change the way shared service centers operate.
Costs and proximity are perceived as the key factors
44% of the surveyed companies have plans to open or relocate their shared service centers. The most frequently mentioned locations considered by the companies as new headquarters or relocated shared service centers are the US, Mexico, Poland, India and China. This means that Poland is one of the most attractive locations for this type of investment.
Krzysztof Pniewski, Partner, Audit & CFO Advisory, Lider of the CFO Program in Poland.
While costs remain a top priority when establishing or relocating SSCs, companies are also increasingly emphasizing the importance of proximity of newly created or relocated centres from their main operational centres or their headquarters.
Centres of Excellence
The number of SSCs with more than three functional scopes continues to rise significantly from 20 % in 2013 to 31 % in 2015 and 53 % in 2017. The main functions performed by SSCs are: Finance (88 %), HR (63 %) and IT (53 %). Shared services centers deliver greater value year after year. The productivity of SSCs increases on average by 8% every year, and 73 % of the respondents said that the increase is by 5% or more. Two years ago the same answer was given by 70 % of the surveyed companies.
Krzysztof Pniewski, Partner, Audit & CFO Advisory, Lider of the CFO Program in Poland.
SSCs are still mainly engaged in transactional processes, but since 2013 the number of the so-called Centers of Excellence has doubled and in some cases even tripled.
Here come the robots
Robotic process automation is a rapidly emerging technology that will fundamentally change how SSCs operate, slashing the effort for routine tasks and enabling advanced cognitive applications that augment or replace human judgment in knowledge-based processes. 8 % of the surveyed companies have already been using robots, 26 % run or plan pilot programs, and 24% have launched initial research in this area. More than a third of respondents (36%) believe that roboticisation can result in cost reductions by 20 % or more, 9 % of them assume that these savings can reach over 40%.
Krzysztof Pniewski, Partner, Audit & CFO Advisory, Lider of the CFO Program in Poland.
In the future robotics and cognitive techniques can radically change the functioning of shared service centers, increasing the efficiency and quality of services provided.
Opt-in model of shared service centers is allowed
An increasing number of companies participating in the study allow for an opt-in model of shared service centers, but still the mandated model is more common. This response was given by 69%. respondents. The most important priority for customers and recipients of services provided by SSCs are costs of services and timeliness of response.
Global business services face pushback
While there is still significant movement toward a global business services (GBS) model, 72 % of organizations not currently using GBS do not plan to make the shift, and 4 % tried GBS but switched back. The most common reasons for this decision were: high operational costs, lack of implementation readiness or insufficient support from top management.
The report and infographic are available at Deloitte’s website.
Source: Deloitte