Why Your GCC/Shared Services Keep Getting Bypassed (And How to Fix It)
- Ashok Govindaraju
- May 14
- 3 min read
There is an uncomfortable truth lurking in many organisations: the very shared services designed to streamline operations have become so disconnected from their users that business units would rather pay external vendors than use internal teams. This isn’t just inefficiency, it’s a silent indictment of how corporate support functions have lost their way.
The Epidemic
Walk into any large organisation, and you’ll find the same pattern repeating itself:
Marketing teams hiring external agencies rather than using in-house design
Sales departments outsourcing lead generation instead of relying on centralised data teams
Operations building shadow IT solutions to avoid lengthy service desk queues
This isn’t rebellion. It’s rational. When shared services fail to meet the needs of their internal customers, those customers find alternatives. The real surprise isn’t that it happens, it’s that so many leaders still respond with mandates rather than introspection.
Why Mandates Backfire
The traditional approach of issuing edicts that all work must flow through shared services solves nothing. It breeds resentment, encourages creative accounting, and often lowers productivity as business units jump through hoops to avoid perceived bureaucracy.
The underlying issue isn’t compliance. It’s value. Internal customers will only willingly use shared services when they deliver better outcomes than alternatives.
The Three Adoption Killers
The Efficiency Trap
When shared services focus solely on cost metrics (transactions processed, call handling times), they optimise for the wrong outcomes. A finance team measured on invoice processing speed has no incentive to improve payment terms that could save the business millions.
The Standardisation Fallacy
One-size-fits-all solutions rarely fit anyone well. HR services offering identical support to frontline workers and corporate staff inevitably disappoint both.
The Innovation Gap
External providers stay competitive by continuously improving. Shared services often lack the same pressure until it’s too late.
The Wake-Up Call
A retail chain’s HR shared services offer a cautionary tale. Despite significant investment, people managers increasingly bypassed the central team for external recruiters.
The breaking point came when an internal survey revealed why:
External recruiters responded to queries within four hours; HR took three days
Agencies provided market insights alongside candidates; HR just sent CVs
Business units felt recruiters understood their needs; HR seemed to follow rigid scripts
The solution wasn’t forcing managers back to the internal team—it was transforming that team into something worth using.
The Value-Centric Transformation
Shared services that become preferred partners share common traits:
They Measure What Matters
Tracking internal Net Promoter Score (NPS) reveals more about performance than cost-per-transaction ever could.
They Segment Their Services
Different business units get tailored solutions, not standardised offerings. Finance might need real-time data feeds; Operations may prioritise exception handling.
They Compete on Value
Regular benchmarking against external providers keeps services sharp. If outside options are better, the question isn’t how to block them—it’s how to improve.
They Embed in the Business
Relationship managers sit within business units, speaking the language of operations rather than just process.
The Service Recovery Framework
Transforming bypassed shared services requires deliberate steps:
Confront the Truth
Anonymous surveys and shadow process tracking reveal why users defect.
Redesign Around Jobs-to-Be-Done
Understand what internal customers actually need to accomplish, not just what services currently provide.
Pilot and Iterate
Test new approaches with volunteer business units before scaling.
Make Performance Transparent
Public dashboards showing service levels create accountability.
The Leadership Mindset Shift
Executives must recognise that:
Bypassing is a symptom, not the disease
Cost metrics alone guarantee mediocrity
Shared services should be measured on value created, not just costs saved
The Competitive Advantage
Organisations that fix adoption issues gain more than efficiency—they unlock hidden potential. When shared services truly understand and serve their users:
Shadow costs disappear
Innovation increases as internal experts focus on value-add work
Talent thrives in centres of excellence rather than bureaucratic backwaters
The Way Forward
The question isn’t whether your organisation can afford to transform its shared services. It’s whether you can afford not to. Every day that business units work around rather than with support functions represents lost value, duplicated effort, and missed opportunities.
The solution starts with a simple but profound shift: stop asking how to make people use your services and start asking why they don’t want to.
How ValueKnox Can Help
ValueKnox specialises in transforming shared services from cost centres to value drivers. Our user-centric approach redesigns support functions around what the business actually needs. If your shared services struggle with adoption, let’s discuss how to make them indispensable.