From Execution to Enterprise Impact
September 29-30, 2026 | Virtual
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
AI in GBS: The Gap Between Ambition and Execution
8:00 am - 8:30 am
SSON Research & Analytics Presents: The AI State of Industry
Naomi Secor -
Global Managing Director,
SSON Research & Analytics
Most organizations are still early in their AI journey, with nearly half in pilot phase and only around 10% live in production. Expectations around productivity, workforce impact, and transformation continue to outpace measurable results. Drawing on SSON Research & Analytics' latest benchmarks and market research, this session establishes the baseline across adoption, investment, priorities, and outcomes to help leaders calibrate where the market stands and what matters next.
8:40 am - 9:10 am
Panel Discussion: Scaling AI in GBS: Overcoming Barriers to Enterprise Adoption
Kanishka Kumar Sinha -
Executive Director, AI Integration,
Ingram Micro
Krzysiek Znaleziony - Head of Digital & AI @ GBS, Philip Morris International
Cรฉsar Guerra - VP, Global Business Services, UL Solutions
Canda Rozier - Advisor, SSON Research & Analytics
The ambition to scale AI is clear. SSON Research & Analytics found that 74% of organizations expect Agentic AI to significantly change their service delivery model. Yet only 11% have Agentic AI live in production, and none report scaling it across the enterprise. This execution gap sits at the heart of today's discussion.
The panel will examine where scaling breaks down across process design, ownership, governance, and day-to-day execution. What slows progress? What did leaders underestimate? And what has made the difference in embedding AI into core workflows and delivering measurable impact at enterprise scale?
9:20 am - 9:50 am
The Future of Work in GBS: Shifting Roles, Skills & Expectations
LaShonda Hill -
VP, HR Shared Services,
ABM
As AI reshapes how work gets done, many GBS organizations are finding that workforce transformation is more challenging than technology transformation. In this session, hear how one organization is redefining roles, developing new capabilities, and preparing leaders to support an AI-enabled operating model. Gain practical insights into the decisions, challenges, and lessons learned along the journey.
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Panel: The GBS Model Under Pressure: What Needs to Evolve
Ciara O'Connell -
VP, Global Business Services,
Aptiv
Bastien Parizot - SVP, Global Business Services & AI, Reckitt
Michael van der Steen - VP, Global Business Services, Cencora
SSON Research & Analytics data shows that 85% of organizations are already committed to the GBS model, yet many are reassessing how the model should operate in an AI-enabled enterprise. As organizations modernize ERP environments, expand scope, and push for faster enterprise execution, leaders are confronting practical questions around governance, process ownership, standardization, and decision-making. Some are redesigning structures to improve agility and orchestration, while others are doubling down on centralized control and operational discipline. This panel will focus on the real operating model decisions leaders are making today, including what should remain standardized, where flexibility is needed, how ownership models are evolving, and what changes are actually helping GBS operate more effectively at enterprise scale.
10:40 am - 11:10 am
Panel: The CFO Mandate for GBS: Speed, Control & Enterprise Value
Markus Rieder -
SVP, Global Head of Finance Transformation,
Swissport
Pascal Jenny - SVP, Global Business Services, Coty
The expectations placed on GBS by finance leadership are changing rapidly. Cost and efficiency still matter, but CFOs are increasingly looking to GBS to improve execution speed, strengthen control, and deliver greater business value. SSON Research & Analytics data shows that value creation is now considered nearly three times more important to customers than cost reduction alone. At the same time, many organizations are still struggling with fragmented processes, slow decision-making, and operational complexity despite years of transformation investment. This session will focus on the practical changes leaders are making to improve agility, standardize operations, support enterprise priorities, deliver more measurable business impact, and the interdependencies that exist between GBS and transformation.
11:20 am - 11:50 am
Order-to-Cash Transformation: Accelerating Working Capital & Customer Experience
Cindy Gallagher -
Chief Accounting Officer,
USA Today
Order-to-Cash is becoming a critical lever for improving working capital, customer responsiveness, and enterprise agility. SSON Research & Analytics data shows that 46% of organizations already have a dedicated Order-to-Cash process owner operating within GBS, while 89% report that stronger process ownership positively impacts end-to-end performance.
This session explores how organizations are modernizing billing, collections, dispute management, and customer coordination to reduce operational friction, improve payment application speed, and create more intelligent, connected O2C operations. The discussion will also examine how AI and agentic automation are reshaping execution across the O2C lifecycle.
