The Missed Opportunity Sitting in Your Operating Model

Most executives will tell you their GBS is digital. There is automation. There are self-service portals. Processes are paperless. Boxes checked.

But check again.

The performance is not transformational. The experience? Often worse than before. 
What is happening? Many GBS organizations confuse digital capability with digital impact. They stack tools on top of outdated logic. They optimize old models instead of replacing them. 
The result? A polished interface hiding fragmented workflows. A digital performance without business progress. And it’s costing relevance.

What the Best GBS Organizations Do Differently

Top performing GBS organizations don’t ask, “How can we digitize this?”

They ask, “What creates value?”

Then they build from there.

They design for:

• Cross-functional integration, not isolated automation
• Experience-led journeys, not transactional processes
• Data intelligence, not static dashboards

They don’t treat digital as a project. They treat it as a new operating model.

These GBS teams deploy digital to:

• Embed feedback into service design
• Route work intelligently to avoid friction
• Deliver visibility across the full chain, not just a single task

A well-designed process is not the same as a well-received one.

A form can work perfectly and still make users feel like they have hit a wall.

That is the difference between process compliance and experience performance.

How to Know If Your Digital Strategy Is Missing the Point

Look at your metrics:

• Is automation rising while errors stay the same? You have a process design problem.
• Do your year-one hires keep leaving despite your new slick onboarding portal? The experience is not landing.
• Are approvals still slow, reimbursements still delayed? Then the tech is not solving the friction.

These are early signals of misalignment.

And they lead to a transformation that looks good on paper but does not perform in reality.

GBS Must Lead, Not Just Support, Digital Transformation

When digital fails, it’s often because GBS is not actively shaping the change.

IT brings tools. Business units want results. But no one owns what happens in between.

That is GBS territory.

GBS must become the glue between technology and business outcomes. 

That means:

• Removing duplicate work across silos
• Redesigning services around how people actually work
• Building intelligence into workflows, not just speed

The most successful GBS organizations own the digital architecture of service, the data that powers it, and the design that makes it human.

This insight is echoed in SSON Research & Analytics’ (R&A) report “GBS as the Engine of Digital Transformation,” which highlights how leading organizations embed CX and EX, data strategy, and digital architecture as core responsibilities of GBS, not side tasks.

SSON Research & Analytics’ Metric Benchmarker helps measure whether that ownership is real.

You can track:

• Percentage of automated account reconciliations
• First-time match rates in procurement
• Adoption and satisfaction in HR self-service

These data points are your truth serum.

Don’t Just Show the Dashboard. Drive the Outcome.

Every GBS claims to be data-driven. But only a few use data to drive change.

The best teams go further, according to SSON R&A:

• They embed analytics in everyday work
• They use predictive models to forecast issues
• They don’t just react. They anticipate

For example, just consider:

• Reporting cycle time
• GBS cost as a percentage of revenue
• FTEs per process, benchmarked against peers

These are not vanity metrics, but leading indicators of readiness and agility. 

If your data is not helping you act, it’s just noise.

SSON Research & Analytics Helps You Lead with Proof

SSON R&A’s Metric Benchmarker connects your ambition to execution.

It offers you over 80 peer-validated KPIs from HR to Finance to Procurement to:

• See how you compare
• Find where you are lagging
• Track what matters

It lets you move from story to strategy. From assumption to evidence.

Own the Agenda Before Someone Else Does

Digital transformation won’t wait.

If GBS doesn’t act fast to define the new model, someone else will.

You don’t need a mandate to start. You need a metric.

Use SSON Research & Analytics’ Metric Benchmarker to validate your strengths, identify blind spots and make your case.

Stop waiting. Start leading. Prioritize experience.

Resources:
📌 SSON Research & Analytics Insight Report: GBS As The Engine of Digital Transformation

📌 SSON Research & Analytics Metric Benchmarker