View All Articles
Keys to Shared Services Success!
Finance Shared Services is it for everyone? That is a fascinating question! When Clients approach me to consider Finance Shared Services and want to know the keys to success in a Finance Shared Services project, I always answer the same. Don't do it!
Counter intuitive I know! A Consultancy trying not to sell their services! However, this is exactly what I do. I say STOP! The key to success with Finance Shared Services is to:
Forget Shared Services!
At Finance Transformation UK we do not let Clients get target fixated. We bring all our Clients back to 1st principles and do not let them pre-empt the answer when they have not yet defined the question...
The 'Exam Question' of every change project and the Day 1 bedrock of every Finance Transformation program is to define the "Exam Question" - the WHY! If we cannot agree on why, we are doing a Finance Transformation program then we may well embark down the wrong road, causing undue cost, delayed benefits realisation and massive disruption to the organisation and service delivery.
Pause and reflect, that is the advice I give. Invest 3 months minimum at the start of every Finance Transformation program to establish:
1. The Why
2. The What
3. The How
Any Finance Transformation program that has not analysed, assessed, and costed these 3 questions will not deliver Benefits, it may deliver Change but not as you desire it!
The Keys to Success?
1. Define the Exam Question - Why are you doing this?
2. Create a Vision of the Future - What do you really want to achieve?
3. Baseline your current operations - the Starting position!
4. Document and critique your Current Operating Model (COM)
5. Develop Target Operating Model (TOM) options - one of which may be Shared Services
6. Assess the Cost / Benefits of each TOM at a high level
7. Select a TOM that the CFO believes in
8. Now go ahead and Transform Finance!
Finance Transformation UK apply rigorous due diligence and challenge. Call today and road test your planned Finance Transformation!
Author: Michael Ryan
With 25 years' experience Transforming Finance across multiple Sectors as a Consultant and as a Finance Transformation Leader, Michael Ryan is uniquely placed to advise Clients on creating a World Class Finance Team. Call him now on 0203 1466878