Every month we “shine a light” on one Shared Intelligence member, by asking them a series of questions in order to share their background, insight and experiences with the Shared Intelligence community. This month meet Tilak Banerjee, Director, Global Business Services, EMC. For more information, please visit www.sharedintelligence.com.

2. Q&A with:
Tilak Banerjee
Director, Global Business Services
EMC

3. What’s your shared services background?
e.g. What is your role within your SSC? How long have you
worked in shared services? What type of center do you work
in (Captive, Hybrid, Outsourced)?
“I have been working in shared services industry for around 18 years.
I have had the good fortune to be a part of all the three models –
Captive, Hybrid as well as outsourced.
This has given me a well-rounded view of the industry and an
understanding of the different value propositions and strategic
levers for these three models/centres.”
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4. What’s your shared services background?
e.g. What is your role within your SSC? How long have you
worked in shared services? What type of center do you work
in (Captive, Hybrid, Outsourced)?
“I am a part of a Global Business Services (GBS) set
up now which relies on a Hybrid organization design.
I was managing service delivery of the “Finance
Shared Services” comprising of different delivery
towers and teams based out of multiple countries in
the Asia Pacific & Japan region for the last 4 years.
Right now I am transitioning into a new role within
the GBS organization.”
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5. What has been your biggest challenge in
your shared services career and how did
you overcome it?
“I think the challenge that I have faced, or for that matter, every
shared service professional faces, is in the area of knowledge transfer
and management.”
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6. What has been your biggest challenge in
your shared services career and how did
you overcome it?
“In a traditional set-up, knowledge is managed in an organic way – it is
unstructured. People who have been doing these functions for all these years
just know it. There is really no need to turn these into explicit knowledge
capsules.
But the moment you think shared services, you have to put that knowledge
down to pen and paper, in the form of digestible chunks. Extracting that
perfectly by capturing all the exceptions is near to impossible ... hence the first
few months of service delivery is always crucial. The stabilization period, as we
call it, is the most challenging part.”
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7. What is the best aspect of your role/what
do you enjoy most about it?
“The best aspect of my role is the opportunity to
interact with people across geographies and
cultures. Everything else stems from this interaction.
Understanding the expectations of the stakeholders,
understanding the ‘motivation-triggers’ for people in your teams
based out of different countries – it is such a fascinating thing. The
human element in our digital processes is what I enjoy most in my
current role.”
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8. What motivates you and keeps your
engaged in your role?
“Fundamentally, I believe motivation is something that you seek
within. Having said that, the external environment also acts as a
catalyst.
The responsibility of creating an environment
which is conducive lies with all of us in the
organization. This is where we spend most of
our waking hours, so the bond that you have
with the people with whom you work is a great motivating factor.”
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9. What motivates you and keeps your
engaged in your role?
“The other part which is important
for me personally is an environment
which prompts and rewards
creativity. A great bunch of people
and a creative environment is what
makes me come to work everyday
with a .”
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10. Do you see any significant trends in shared
services & outsourcing at the moment? And
how do you think this trend could change the
industry (or is already changing it)?
“The industry is changing as I respond to this question – the change
is rapid and significant. Digital disruption and the increasing use of
analytics are changing the service delivery models.
We would definitely need to redefine our strategy
and redraft our service catalogue.
I believe the effects would be at different levels
– people, process, customer, enterprise.”
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11. Do you see any significant trends in shared
services & outsourcing at the moment? And
how do you think this trend could change the
industry (or is already changing it)?
“Robotic process automation (RPA) will take care of the routine and
repetitive tasks. We would need to hire, build and nurture skills which
support the business at a different level than what we are doing today.
We have geared up to manage our digital workforce now –
performance management of the bots will become key. RPA is a
stepping stone though, from my perspective but that will be a different
discussion focused on Deep Neural Networks.”
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12. Do you see any significant trends in shared
services & outsourcing at the moment? And
how do you think this trend could change the
industry (or is already changing it)?
“We would, over a period of time, move
towards providing valuable insights to the
business rather than processing routine
transactions from a best-value location.
Analytics will have a significant role to
play in the field of intelligent service
delivery.”
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13. What advice would you give to someone who
is just starting on their company’s shared
services journey, or to someone who is just
starting their shared services career?
“I do not think there is a single piece of advice which everyone can
use, however, I feel there are certain fundamental questions which
need to be answered at the start of your journey.
A few examples would be:
• Why do you want to have a shared service? What are your key
drivers?”
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14. What advice would you give to someone who
is just starting on their company’s shared
services journey, or to someone who is just
starting their shared services career?
• “Do you have the right stakeholders aligned and involved?
• Which processes would you target first to be performed out of
your shared service?
• What is your location strategy?
• Have you factored in ‘digital’ as a part of your solution? (RPA)”
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15. Besides being a shared services leader, Tilak is an author!
Check out his new book “Journey of a Curious Lens:
Exploring Beyond the Usual”

16. You’ve reached the end of this Q&A!
We hope you’ve found it both
informative and inspiring.
Check back in a month for another Q&A
with our featured Shared Intelligence member!