Shared Service Centers (SSCs) are independent structures within a group and can be viewed as internal outsourcing. The main function of the SSC is to uncover the “less demanding activities (such as data entry)” of specialists and duplicate workflows of the business units of a group and to take over the competences for them, to reduce costs and to further specialize employees.
Furthermore, thanks to the specialization of the SSC, the quality requirements can be increased and processing times of the tasks can be reduced. The acquired competences in one or more areas are provided by the SSC as a service for the business units. Possible processes that can be taken over are:
• Finance and accounting,
• Facility management,
• Information technology,
• Human Resources (HR),
• Logistics,
• Marketing and marketing
• Environmental services.
A SSC can occur for a single or multiple areas. In addition, a regional breakdown of the SSC into continents, countries etc. can be carried out. The introduction time of an SSC is often dependent on the size, the preliminary analysis of the business units and the planning. In large companies, the introduction takes an average of 12 months.
The most important prerequisite for the success of the SSC is the entrepreneurial thinking and observance of other fundamental principles of market-oriented companies, since otherwise there is a risk of creating a situation like in state-owned enterprises. Therefore, a target and performance control must also be performed in an SSC. The SSC’s controlling department can be located in the SSC itself or in the company management.
The organizational form of the SSC can be defined as:
• Cost Center,
• Investment Center,
• profit center or
• Revenue Center.