Why Are Finance Shared Services Important for Businesses?

 

Why Are Finance Shared Services Important for Businesses?

An entity that manages certain operational duties, including finance, accounting, payroll, human resources, IT, legal, compliance, buying, security, etc., is known as a shared services center (SSC).

In this blog post, it will be discussed why reliable finance shared services are important for businesses:

 1. A Focus on the Clients
The foundation of any effective SSC is client satisfaction. It places a strong focus on giving internal customers' wants and expectations first priority. These clients include different organisational departments and people who depend on the services of the finance shared service center. The salient features of these services are:

·        Recognising clients needs: This entails paying attention to what clients have to say, getting their opinions on how services should be provided, and comprehending their particular needs.
·        Customising services: SSC modify or adapt their offerings to satisfy the distinct requirements of various business division.

 2. Develop and Implement a Global Delivery Framework
Many companies start their shared services journey by implementing the model within their own country or region. Satisfied with initial success, they then expand the concept to other countries. However, this often leads to a fragmented approach, with each department independently trying to cut costs and improve efficiency.

Leading companies, on the other hand, take a global perspective from the outset. They strategically design their organisational structures and policies to optimise a worldwide shared services model. This often involves consolidating operations into a single, large global hub, supplemented by many smaller regional centres. A dedicated head of global shared services oversees all worldwide operations, ensuring consistent support for business units in every location.

3. Expand the Organisation's Size and Scope
Shared services often start with standardising and centralising high-volume, transactional processes like cash application for accounts payable. However, many companies get stuck at this stage, essentially becoming transaction processing centers and failing to realise the full potential of shared services.

Progressive companies, on the other hand, take a more strategic approach. They aim to broaden both the geographic reach and the range of services offered by their shared services organisation. Critically, they make shared services mandatory across the entire company – there are no exceptions. This means all locations, business units, staff, and countries are served by the shared services organisation. Furthermore, these forward-thinking companies don't just focus on cost savings from high-volume processing. They also look to expand into more specialised, knowledge-based services and evaluate processes based on a broader set of criteria beyond just transaction volume efficiency.

4. Adaptability
Shared Service Centers (SSCs) that are successful are able to thrive in today's dynamic business environment because of their adaptability. They leverage technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance service delivery, boost efficiency, and automate routine processes. These high-performing SSCs also prioritise continuous improvement, regularly reviewing best practices and evaluating their own procedures to identify opportunities for optimisation and growth.

5. Effective Governance and Leadership
Effective leadership and governance are absolutely essential for the success of any shared service center, whether it's focused on finance, accounting, or other functions. Effective leadership provides the necessary vision, direction, and strategic guidance to achieve organisational goals. Equally important is a robust governance structure, which ensures accountability and transparency in all aspects of shared service operations. This includes clearly defined roles and responsibilities, regular performance reviews, and established systems for monitoring and reporting on key performance indicators (KPIs).

6. Cost Saving
Cost saving is a crucial element of a successful SSC, just like it is for any other business-related department. Demonstrating measurable value requires reducing operating costs and allocating resources as efficiently as possible while preserving the provision of high-quality services.

SSCs take advantage of economies of scale by centralising services. This minimises effort duplication, cuts down on redundancy, and maximises resource use throughout the company. Significant savings on overhead expenses, including rent, utilities, and administrative fees, might result from centralisation.

So, these are the reasons that provide that why SSCs are important for businesses.

One of the companies that provides one of the best shared financial services centres is Mynd Integrated Solutions. Modern technology is used in its shared service centre to offer innovative solutions for difficult financial and accounting problems. Its automated and technology-driven centralised service approach streamlines procedures and boosts efficiency. By focusing on specialised knowledge and skills inside Centres of Excellence (COEs) and offering solutions that are especially made to meet specific business needs, it enhances financial reporting and control processes.

In Conclusion

Beyond only cutting costs, a shared service centre's effectiveness depends on a number of variables. Shared service centres may be turned from cost centres into strategic assets by exhibiting six essential traits: a customer-focused approach, innovation and agility, strong leadership and governance, and a knowledgeable and motivated staff.

Mynd Integrated Solutions is among the businesses that offer the best shared services centre for accounting or finance. Its shared service centre uses state-of-the-art technology to provide creative answers to challenging accounting and financial problems. Its technology-driven, automated, and centralised service strategy increases efficiency and simplifies processes. It improves financial reporting and control procedures by concentrating on specialist knowledge and skills inside Centres of Excellence (COEs) and providing solutions specifically designed to satisfy particular company demands.