Best practices in Shared Services Centers

Why established HR SSCs must move beyond transactional work

Article

Hackett Group’s Director of HR Consulting Practice Karum Zerhouni explains why established HR SCCs must move beyond transactional work.

To align with and enable business strategy, shared services must move beyond transactional work and shift toward a next generation model that drives greater value.

During the last decade and a half, Human Resources (HR) have been undergoing a process of transformation. Yet, despite the large scale of transformation programs, the cost of Human Resources function has been rising.

The Hackett Group 2008 Shared Services Performance study reveals that a vast majority (94%) of organizations are already operating Shared Services in order to reduce General and Administration (G&A) costs and enable the execution of business strategies for growth, competitive advantage and employee engagement.

To retain a dominant position, Human Resources Shared Services must move beyond the transactional processing activities and focus on the most added value activities.

A large majority of Human Resources functions have now adopted multi-tiered models relying on Shared Services, Center of Excellence, Business Partners and distant channels, but all are not yet capable of exploiting them to deliver higher-value analytical task or integrating them in advanced Human Resources capabilities.

The redefinition of the role of business partner, staff training and process reengineering require major conversion programs which are supported by significant investments.