Nowa strona 1 » How to Rebuild Shared Services in an Agile Organization

Introduction

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, shared services functions—traditionally known for standardization, efficiency, and centralized control—face increasing pressure to adapt and become more agile. Organizations adopting Agile methodologies seek speed, flexibility, and responsiveness across all units, including shared services. The challenge lies in redesigning shared services to serve diverse business units dynamically while maintaining cost efficiency and quality.

This guide provides HR leaders and organization designers with a detailed, step-by-step framework for rebuilding shared services within an agile organization. It combines strategic insight, practical examples, and implementation guidance to help you shift from rigid, siloed structures to responsive, collaborative shared services models that deliver real value.

Step 1: Understand the Current State of Shared Services and Agile Expectations

Before initiating any redesign, conduct a thorough diagnosis of your current shared services setup and the agile expectations from business units.

Assess existing shared services model: Identify scope, governance, key processes, service levels, and pain points. Consider which processes are standardized, which are heavily manual, and which rely on legacy systems.

Narrative: Understanding where your shared services currently stand is critical to recognizing gaps between existing performance and agile goals. Many shared services teams today operate in rigid silos, focused on efficiency rather than responsiveness. For example, a finance shared services center may process invoices efficiently but struggles to respond quickly to changing business requirements or support new product launches.

Engage business units and stakeholders: Conduct interviews, surveys, and workshops to gather expectations on agility, speed, customization needs, and collaboration. Capture how shared services impact customer satisfaction and business outcomes.

Narrative: Agile organizations emphasize customer-centricity—not only external customers but internal stakeholders. Business units expect shared services to act as partners, co-innovators, and enablers rather than just cost centers. For instance, HR shared services may be expected to quickly adjust recruitment processes or benefits administration to align with shifting workforce strategies.

Map pain points and friction areas: Document challenges such as slow turnaround times, rigid SLAs, lack of transparency, poor communication, and limited empowerment.

Step 2: Define Agile Principles Tailored for Shared Services

Agile principles such as collaboration, iterative delivery, continuous improvement, and empowerment must be translated specifically for shared services.

Customer orientation: Redefine shared services as service partners focused on internal customer needs, not just transaction processors.

Narrative: The mindset shift from “order taker” to “service partner” changes how teams prioritize work, communicate, and measure success. For example, IT shared services may move from scheduled batch processing to on-demand support aligned with business rhythms.

Empowered cross-functional teams: Break down functional silos and build cross-functional squads within shared services that have end-to-end ownership over service delivery aspects.

Narrative: Agile teams in shared services empower members with decision rights to resolve issues quickly without hierarchical approvals. A procurement shared services team, for example, may include sourcing experts, contract managers, and legal advisors working collaboratively to speed supplier onboarding.

Iterative process improvements: Implement short cycles of process review and adaptation, using data and feedback loops to drive continuous enhancements.

Narrative: Unlike rigid annual process reviews, agile shared services adopt sprint-like cadences to test new ways of working, tools, or customer interactions. A payroll shared services team might pilot automation enhancements monthly and adjust based on employee feedback.

Transparency and metrics: Use real-time dashboards and customer feedback mechanisms to monitor service performance, bottlenecks, and customer satisfaction.

Step 3: Redesign the Shared Services Operating Model

To embed agility, the shared services operating model must evolve across structure, governance, and processes.

Structure: Shift from centralized, function-based teams to flexible, cross-functional squads aligned to customer segments or processes.

Narrative: Rather than organizing by tasks (e.g., invoice processing, payroll), agile shared services create squads responsible for end-to-end outcomes, such as “employee lifecycle services” or “supplier onboarding.” This increases accountability and responsiveness.

Governance: Establish federated governance that balances standardization with local autonomy.

Narrative: Agile governance for shared services allows squads to tailor processes within guardrails while ensuring compliance and risk management. For example, legal and compliance oversight may set minimum standards, but squads can decide how to implement them.

Processes: Redesign processes for modularity, automation, and flexibility.

Narrative: Processes should support quick adaptations, e.g., using configurable workflow tools that allow squads to modify approval steps as needed without IT intervention. This enables rapid response to business changes such as product launches or regulatory updates.

Step 4: Build Agile Talent and Leadership in Shared Services

People and leadership are critical enablers for the agile transformation of shared services.

Skill development: Invest in agile mindsets, collaboration, and digital skills.

Narrative: Teams need training not just in technical expertise but also in agile ways of working. For example, finance shared services staff may learn scrum basics to manage work in sprints and daily stand-ups.

Leadership shift: Develop servant leadership capabilities among managers.

Narrative: Shared services leaders evolve from command-and-control to coaching roles, enabling teams to self-organize, experiment, and learn. Leaders focus on removing blockers rather than directing tasks.

Empowerment: Grant decision-making authority to frontline squads.

Narrative: Empowered teams reduce bottlenecks and increase motivation. For instance, HR shared services squads may be authorized to adjust service levels or escalate issues directly with business units.

Step 5: Leverage Technology and Automation for Agility

Technology plays a foundational role in enabling agile shared services.

Implement integrated platforms: Use cloud-based, modular platforms that support process automation, collaboration, and analytics.

Narrative: Tools like ServiceNow for IT shared services or Workday for HR shared services can enable flexible workflows, real-time reporting, and self-service options.

Adopt robotic process automation (RPA): Automate repetitive, rule-based tasks to free up capacity for higher-value work.

Narrative: RPA can accelerate invoice approvals, data entry, or benefits enrollment, allowing teams to focus on exceptions and customer interactions.

Enable data-driven decision making: Use analytics to track performance, identify bottlenecks, and anticipate demand fluctuations.

Step 6: Pilot and Scale Agile Shared Services

Start small with pilots before scaling agility across all shared services.

Select pilot areas: Choose functions or business units with high impact and openness to change.

Narrative: For example, pilot agile HR shared services in a high-growth business unit needing rapid talent acquisition support.

Define success criteria: Establish KPIs such as cycle time reduction, customer satisfaction, and team engagement.
Iterate and learn: Use feedback loops and retrospectives to improve team dynamics, processes, and tools.
Scale gradually: Roll out proven models incrementally, adapting to varying contexts and complexities.

Step 7: Sustain and Evolve Agile Shared Services

Agility is a continuous journey, not a one-time project.

Embed continuous improvement culture: Promote experimentation, learning, and innovation within shared services.
Foster collaboration with business units: Regularly align on priorities, service expectations, and emerging needs.
Maintain governance balance: Ensure compliance without stifling innovation or responsiveness.
Invest in leadership development: Continuously develop servant leaders who champion agile values.

Practical Examples

Example 1: Agile IT Shared Services in a Global Bank

The IT shared services unit restructured into squads aligned by customer segment: Retail, Corporate, and Wealth Management. Each squad included developers, support engineers, and business analysts working collaboratively. They adopted Kanban boards to visualize work and held daily stand-ups to prioritize requests dynamically. This reduced incident resolution time by 30% and increased internal customer satisfaction scores.

Example 2: HR Shared Services Agile Pilot in a Technology Firm

The HR shared services team piloted an agile squad responsible for talent acquisition services for a fast-growing product line. The squad empowered recruiters, HR operations, and onboarding specialists to redesign workflows using digital tools. Automated status updates and collaborative platforms enabled quicker communication with hiring managers. Time-to-hire dropped from 45 to 25 days, improving competitive advantage.

Example 3: Finance Shared Services Automation in a Manufacturing Company

Finance shared services deployed robotic process automation (RPA) to process routine invoices and expense claims. This freed finance analysts to focus on exception management and vendor relationship building. The transition was paired with agile training and a governance framework allowing squads to adapt automation rules rapidly.

Conclusion

Rebuilding shared services in an agile organization requires more than superficial tweaks—it demands a fundamental rethink of structure, processes, talent, governance, and technology. By diagnosing needs carefully, adopting agile principles tailored for shared services, redesigning operating models, empowering talent, and leveraging technology, organizations can transform shared services into dynamic, customer-focused partners that accelerate business agility.

For HR leaders, this transformation is a critical lever to enhance workforce productivity, engagement, and organizational resilience in a fast-changing environment. The journey will have challenges, but with deliberate design and strong leadership, agile shared services can become a powerful engine for enterprise success.