How Shared Services Centers Improve Business Processes

 

How Shared Services Centers Improve Business Processes

An organisation's shared services center is a centralised unit that supports a variety of non-core operations. Finance, accounting, payroll, human resources, IT, legal, compliance, and security are some of these roles. Any company activity that doesn't produce income but is still crucial is referred to as "non-core”.

Without it, businesses might face challenges like fragmented processes, duplicated efforts, and inconsistent service delivery across different units. That is why shared services centres (SSCs) can be a great strategic approach to handle these non-core functions.

Instead of creating an SSC in-house, it would be better to give shared service center outsourcing.

Below are the reasons that will prove how SSC outsourcing improves business processes.

Standardise Processes

·        Establishing uniformity: SSCs find comparable procedures carried out by various business units and create a single, best-practice method for each. This gets rid of variances and inconsistencies in the way things are done.

·        Simplified workflows: By eliminating pointless steps, duplications, and bottlenecks, standardisation enables the simplification of workflows. Increased productivity and faster turnaround times result from this.

·        Clear guidelines and documentation: Standardised processes are typically well-documented with clear procedures (often as Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs). This guarantees that everyone takes the same actions, which lowers errors and facilitates onboarding new employees.

·        Improved collaboration: When everyone follows the same processes, communication and collaboration between different teams and units within the SSC become more efficient and effective.

 Leverage Automation

·        Automating repetitive tasks: Since SSCs are centralised, it is simpler to invest in and use automation technologies such as workflow automation tools, artificial intelligence (AI), etc. These technologies can perform repetitive, rule-based, high-volume tasks that were previously completed by hand.

·        Enhanced accuracy and speed: Automation completes tasks far more quickly and with a much lower error rate than humans, which results in faster processing times and more accurate results.

·        Decreased manual effort: SSCs can concentrate on more intricate, analytical, and strategic work by relieving their human resources of time-consuming and monotonous tasks through automation.

·        24/7 operation: Automation allows for continuous processing and quicker task completion since it can operate without interruptions.

Help in Cost Reduction

·        Economies of scale: By centralising procedures, the SSC can manage more transactions, which lowers costs per unit. This can involve buying supplies in bulk, making better use of bigger technology platforms, and maximising staffing levels throughout the company as opposed to in discrete departments.

·        Reducing duplication: When each business unit oversees its own support functions, redundant roles, systems, and infrastructure are found and removed by SSCs (e.g., separate AP departments, multiple HR systems). Overhead is immediately decreased by this consolidation.

·        Better resource allocation: Personnel can be deployed more strategically thanks to centralisation. Instead of requiring each unit to have its own costly experts, specialised skills can be concentrated in the SSC and distributed throughout the organisation as needed.

·        Decreased transaction costs: Streamlining workflows through standardised and automated procedures within an SSC results in quicker processing times and cheaper transaction costs (e.g., processing an invoice, onboarding an employee).

·        Reduced labour costs: Although not always the main factor, the SSC can be able to save a substantial amount of money on labour costs by combining roles and taking advantage of possibly less expensive locations. The need for manual labour is further decreased by automation.

·        Avoiding redundant technology investments: By implementing a single, reliable platform, an SSC can lower overall technology expenditures and maintenance costs by avoiding multiple business units investing in their own software and systems.

Improving Data Management and Reporting

·        Centralised data collection: SSCs combine information from different business units pertaining to the particular functions they manage (such as finance and human resources) into a single, cohesive system. This removes data silos and offers an all-encompassing perspective of important data throughout the company.

·        Standardised data formats: Data is recorded and kept in standardised formats by the SSC's implementation of uniform procedures and systems. This guarantees data consistency and accuracy and facilitates the analysis of data from various sources.

·        Better Data Governance: Using data quality checks and validation procedures is made possible by centralised data management. As a result, data for analysis and reporting becomes more dependable and trustworthy.

·        Improved Governance and Compliance: Standardised information and procedures inside an SSC make it easier to follow internal guidelines and legal requirements. Monitoring compliance and producing the required reports for audits are made simpler with centralised data.

All of these reasons prove that SSC can improve business processes.

Businesses may find Mynd Integrated Solutions to be an excellent outsourcing partner for SSC. Its accounting and finance shared service center uses automation and technology to handle certain accounting and finance-related transactional issues and operational tasks. It offers a centralised point of service and operates as a specialised, multipurpose unit.

Through strategic technology integration, it creates customised procedures suited to specific business requirements with the goal of increasing productivity and raising the value of the system as a whole. Financial reporting and control operations are strengthened when specialised knowledge and skills are concentrated within Centres of Excellence (COEs).

Conclusion

Due to various reasons, including standardising processes and leveraging automation, SSC can improve business processes. That is why many companies are opting for shared service center outsourcing.

Mynd Integrated Solutions can be an excellent SSC outsourcing partner. Its shared financial services (and accounting services) center uses automation and technology as a centralised, specialised unit to handle transactional and operational tasks. By strategically integrating technology, Mynd creates customised, efficiency-boosting procedures, while their Centers of Excellence (COEs) enhance financial reporting and controls through concentrated expertise.