To Share or Not to Share?

Consider This Scenario: Your finance organization has streamlined its processes, standardized as many systems as possible, and begun the consolidation of groups within the organization to drive greater efficiencies.

Unexpectedly, one division decides that it wants to maintain its own collections process, while another doesn't want to let go of its legacy system. Meanwhile, the finance team has received multiple reminders from the CEO indicating that costs as a percentage of revenue continue to be higher than those of your company's largest competitor.

It's becoming clear that there are only two approaches that can bring about the broad structural change necessary: shared services and outsourcing. But which approach works better, and what should drive that decision?

Both options appear to have been successfully pursued by dozens of companies, but the magnitude of the investment and the knowledge that success can be derailed by any number of factors — from the upfront strategy through the execution — give many of your colleagues pause.

The good news is that the companies that have gone before have learned lessons that other organizations, whether new to outsourcing and shared services or looking to expand their programs, can apply. The following four steps can help finance executives to ask the right questions and find the necessary answers.