KPMG Sourcing Advisory 3Q12 Global Pulse Survey - KPMG Institutes

3Q12 Global Pulse Survey | Trends
Shared Services Drivers, Goals and Success Levels
The continued global growth and expansion of shared services operations implies
organizations are reaping the benefits sought—or why would they continue to
expand operations? It is important to understand, however, the specific goals and
drivers for these efforts and to what degree organizations are having success in
achieving them. KPMG polled its firms’ advisors on each of these points (see
Figure 18).
• Expectedly, reducing operating expenditures (measured on the right-hand
scale of the chart), is the top goal cited by buyers’ shared services efforts,
selected by 77 percent of advisors polled. A distant second at 51 percent
was achieving economies of scale, though often economies of scale
are a key means to reduce operating expenditures. These rankings are
the same as in last year’s study. No other goal or driver was selected
by more than 40 percent of advisors. Advisors in EMEA scored
reducing operating expenditures the highest with 79 percent
selecting the driver, while advisors were also more likely to cite
enabling IT systems and applications optimization as a goal.
• Buyers are having moderate, but not great, success in
achieving the goals sought in their shared services efforts.
Advisors ranked on a one-to-five scale, where one represents
not at all successful and five highly successful, the success
they felt buyers are having in achieving the drivers sought.
Scores for all goals were clustered in a relatively tight
band between the highest (3.38 for achieving economies
of scale) to the lowest (2.72 for gaining access to new
markets, a somewhat peripheral goal).
30 Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory / KPMG Sourcing Advisory 3Q12 Global Pulse Survey / October 2012
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