GBS Architectures: One Size Does Not Fit All
Market Report

31 Jan 2025
by Deborah Kops, Bharath M, Meghna Rosa Thomas

For over three decades, Global Business Services (GBS) has been a key operational model designed to align with enterprise needs. A complex interplay of enterprise power structures, scale, and functional priorities shapes GBS architectures. Since GBS architecture is highly contextual to the enterprises it serves, there is no universal blueprint for its design and implementation. However, industry leaders continuously assess what works and does not to identify structural patterns that drive value.

In this first-of-its-kind report, Everest Group, in collaboration with Sourcing Change, analyzes insights from leading GBS organizations to examine the foundational elements of GBS architecture. Rather than prescribing a single approach, the findings offer a comprehensive view of the diverse ways GBS organizations operate, capturing variations in reporting lines, geographic considerations, resourcing approaches, and industry dynamics that continue to shape the evolution of GBS.

Scope

This report covers:

  • Insights based on in-depth interviews with leaders from over 50 GBS organizations across all industries and geographies
  • Three core dimensions of GBS architecture – model, alignment, and resourcing approach – against 10 vectors
  • Patterns that shape GBS organizations, highlighting how enterprise context influences architectural choices

Contents

In this report, we cover:

  • Key patterns in GBS architectures, evaluating three core dimensions against 10 vectors: reporting line, enterprise revenue, headquarters location, integration into enterprise planning cycles, GBS locations, presence of CoEs, enterprise power structure, presence of Global Process Owners (GPOs), GBS size, and enabling capabilities
  • Focus section on GPOs, exploring how they are integrated into different GBS models, factors influencing their adoption, and their reporting structures, among others
  • Focus section on industry-specific trends in consumer packaged goods and pharma sectors

Membership(s)

GBS and Shared Services

 

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