A new employee joins a multinational company.
New Employee: “I’m so excited to learn the company’s universal language.”
Manager: “It’s called English, but don’t worry, it’s spoken differently in every office!
In today’s interconnected world, where businesses operate across multiple geographies and cultures, global standardization has emerged as a critical factor in ensuring operational efficiency, consistency, and quality. For shared services organizations, standardization is particularly essential, as it enables them to deliver consistent services to clients worldwide.
What does Standardization mean in shared services?
Standardization in shared services refers to establishing and implementing uniform policies, procedures, and metrics across all shared service centres within an organization. It ensures that services are delivered consistently, regardless of location, and that best practices are adopted throughout the global network.
Why is Standardization important?
Standardization offers numerous benefits for shared services organizations:
* Improved Efficiency: Standardization can significantly enhance operational efficiency and reduce costs by streamlining processes and eliminating redundancies.
* Enhanced Quality: Consistent processes and standards lead to higher quality outputs and improved customer satisfaction.
* Increased Scalability: Standardization makes it easier for organizations to expand their shared services operations and meet growing demands.
* Facilitated Collaboration: Standardized processes and metrics foster better collaboration and communication among teams located in different regions.
* Risk Mitigation: Standardization helps to identify and mitigate risks associated with variations in processes and quality.
How can we achieve Standardization?
Implementing standardization in a shared services organization requires a systematic approach. Here are some key steps:
- Define Standards: Clearly define the standards that will be adopted across the organization, covering areas such as processes, metrics, and technology.
- Conduct Gap Analysis: Assess the current state of processes and identify areas where standardization is needed.
- Develop Implementation Plan: Create a comprehensive plan outlining the steps, timelines, and resources required to implement the standards.
- Provide Training: Ensure that employees across all locations receive adequate training on the new standards and processes.
- Monitor and Measure: Continuously monitor adherence to standards and measure the impact of standardization on performance.
- Continuously Improve: Regularly review and update standards to reflect evolving business needs and best practices.
As the business landscape continues to evolve, we can expect to see several trends in standardization. By embracing these trends and leveraging AI, shared services can achieve greater standardization, efficiency, and effectiveness, ultimately driving better business outcomes.
- Increased Adoption of Automation and AI: – Shared services are increasingly leveraging automation and AI to streamline processes and reduce costs. This trend is expected to continue, with more organizations adopting these technologies to enhance efficiency and accuracy. AI-powered tools can automate processes, analyse data to identify areas for improvement, and provide real-time insights into performance. For instance, AI can be used to:
- Automate routine tasks: Freeing up employees to focus on more strategic activities.
- Analyse data: Identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement in processes.
- Enhance decision-making: Enable organizations to make data-driven decisions and respond quickly to changes.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP): Develop chatbots and virtual assistants that handle routine inquiries, freeing up human resources for more complex tasks.
- Data standardization: Assist in standardizing data formats and ensuring data consistency across different systems and platforms, crucial for accurate reporting and analytics.
- Increased focus on customer experience: Standardization will be driven by the need to deliver exceptional customer experiences across all regions.
- Integration of emerging technologies: Technologies such as blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) will play a growing role in standardization efforts.
- Emphasis on sustainability: Organizations will focus on standardizing sustainable practices to reduce their environmental impact.
- End-to-end Process Ownership: As shared services mature, there will be a shift towards end-to-end (E2E) process ownership. This approach ensures that processes are managed holistically, leading to improved efficiency and accountability.
- Centralized Analytics and Reporting: There will be a growth in centralized analytics and reporting. By standardizing data collection and analysis processes, organizations can gain better insights and make more informed decisions.
Global standardization is a critical factor for success in the shared services domain. By implementing standardized processes, metrics, and technologies, organizations can improve efficiency, quality, and scalability, while also enhancing their ability to deliver exceptional services to clients worldwide. Standardization is a strategic imperative for organizations aiming to achieve sustainable growth and competitive advantage in an increasingly interconnected world.
Contact us today to learn how shared services can benefit your business!
