Welcome to the Centre Office

Adopting a Centre office mindset can enable the service delivery organisation to become the central nervous system of the enterprise.

Today, one of the most critical business needs for executives across industries is creating resiliency and adaptability in their operations and building the foundation to do more with less in the face of shrinking budgets. Leaders are bombarded with conflicting messages about how to adapt to the pace of change in this rapidly evolving environment. Driven by the explosion of digital tools, the need for speed and agility, and the demand for proactive insights and personalised user experiences, many leaders are asking two key questions:

• "How do we organise and deliver services within and across the business to adapt and thrive?”
• “What capabilities should we invest in to balance long-term growth and efficiency as budgets shrink?”

While looking for the answers, they must consider that the role of the back office is rapidly changing to support enhanced enterprise integration and breakdown of silos across functions. Traditional back-office shared services models are becoming irrelevant as the role of digital expands, with machines and automation redefining work and its delivery. As leaders assess opportunities to streamline operations, there is a shift in focus from task execution to business outcomes and anticipation of customer needs.

The Centre Office delivery model is emerging in response to the need to reimagine the role of service delivery structures within the enterprise with a view to improving agility, quality, and speed.

This backoffice to Centre office shift is likely the next evolution of global business services (GBS) and shared services and can help build the resilient and adaptable delivery models that are increasingly in demand.