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Concept Note on Shared Services

What is Shared Services

In most widespread organizations, transaction processing and other support services are carried out from a number of different locations, each of which performs the work in its own way. This trend gets magnified when companies grow through acquisitions.

There are clear tangible & intangible benefits to taking out the lower value transaction processing common to (or shared by) these disparate sites and bringing it together at one site, be it as a shared service center or outsourcing or some mix of both.

Shared services is the consolidation of business operations that are used by same processes of multiple locations/geographies. Processes are standardized, the people and technology are relocated to agreed site(s) and the work is reengineered to bring it to best in class standards.

Shared services turn-out cost-efficient because they centralize back-office operations that are used by multiple divisions/processes of the same/similar company and eliminate redundancy. Some companies use a chargeback system to bill divisions that use the service on a per-use, per-quarter or per-year basis.  Other companies absorb the cost of shared services as part of the continuing cost of running the business. Today, most companies employ a shared services model for finance and accounts (F&A), human resources management (HRM) and information technology (IT).

The goal of a shared services delivery model is to allow each business division to focus its limited resources on activities that support the division’s business goals. Technology has often been the driver for shared services within an organization because it can be expensive to purchase, maintain and train employees to use.  Back in the 1920s, for example, an Underwood typewriter cost $100 and typists were highly trained employees.  Instead of having each business division within the company hire its own typists, a centralized department for typists was seen as being more cost-efficient and the typing pool was born.  Today, a typing pool would be called a shared service center (SSC).

Who could benefit from Shared Services?

Characteristics of an organization that would benefit from shared services include:

  • Multiple, dispersed locations
  • Unnecessary local administrative presence
  • Non-standardized processes
  • Duplication of work across sites
  • Manual Documentation flow – including approvals
  • Incompatible information systems between locations
  • Limited access to enabling technology
  • Sites that do not share best practices
  • Development of local or temporary solutions at each site
  • Rising support costs
  • Sites that struggle with their service levels

Companies with these characteristics find that the real costs of providing internal support services are not visible or under control, quality is not appropriately measured and internal customer expectations are neither known nor met.

How Shared Services help an organisation?

  1. Increased efficiency
  • Best practice processes – Leverage on Best practices and benchmarks to drive optimization
  • Economies of scale – Service costs decline with increased volumes
  • Greater span of control – Centralisation and Consolidation enables to enhance control
  • Get the most from investment in technology – High volume Transactional processes which tend to put in Shared Services can leverage on technology to optimise cost
  • Standardization – Centralised processes can be standardised and non-value added tasks removed
  • Process Reengineering
  1. Increased effectiveness
  • Service level agreements (SLAs) and service costing – Key Performance Indicators & SLAs help in driving desired business outcomes and reduce service cost
  • Enhance customer service focus – assessment of service levels by External and Internal stakeholders provides a continuous improvement in service levels
  • Make the most of specialist skills – Presence of subject matter expertise and documentation of process knowledge enhances overall knowledge base
  • Management gets time to focus on core business – Transactional processes and their exceptions get handled by shared services
  • Improved decision support – Exceptions are clearly mapped out and laid out in well documented operating procedures thereby providing prompt actions to be taken
  • Improved control environment – Automated controls through Technology and supervision oversight strengthens the processes

F&A Shared Services

Financial shared services have come a long way since they started gaining popularity in the 1990s. Seen as a way to leverage economies of scale for large organizations, shared services centers, or SSCs, made it possible for the organisations to transfer basic accounting processes like accounts payable, accounts receivables and general accounting.

In the decades that followed, SSCs proved their value, especially for global enterprises that could benefit from the consolidation of services and standardization of their transactional accounting practices.

Today, it is estimated that 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies have implemented some type of shared services model. But as they grow in maturity, it has also become clear that not all SSCs are alike, and many subpar examples may even do far less to boost efficiency than hoped.

In a recent report, The Hackett Group found that best-in-class shared services organizations drew 43 percent lower finance and accounting costs than their average-performing counterparts.

At a high level, the benefits of implementing a financial shared services model are compelling. They offer an ability to consolidate and standardize processes and a greater flexibility for adding new business units or expanding into new markets. They also free up an organization’s core F&A operation to concentrate more fully on adding strategic business value through financial analysis and planning.

A Survey by Deloitte, published in 2017, shows that Finance & Accounts will lead the way to being operated from Shared Services environment, followed by Human Resources. Figure below is the exact extract from the report.

 

About Mynd Integrated Solutions –

Mynd Integrated Solutions is one of the leading global Business Process Management (BPM) services providers, primarily into four different business verticals which are Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO), Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO), Customer/Document Management Services and Consultancy. Having started in the year 1997 with a small team of five people in Delhi, the organization has grown multifold and today, after over a decade we are a family of 1200+ people having a PAN India presence in more than 40 cities with regional offices in Delhi NCR (comprising of centrally located state of the art back end processing facilities in Gurgaon), Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai and international offices in Singapore and Dubai catering to the APAC and Middle-eastern regions respectively.

In response to corporate’s demand for a Mynd who could help with back-end services in Finance and HR, Mynd evolved into a business process management company, specializing in technology enablement around Finance & Accounting and HR operations coupled with customized services delivery suited for global business environment.

Our turnover today exceeds INR 1.3 billion and our client base covers global leaders in the telecom, automotive, retail, information technology and manufacturing industries as well as Government in some cases.

Mynd offers a wide range of specialized, multidisciplinary professional services within its core domains of service, and those that meet the immediate as well as long term needs of a business. Mynd collaborates with each client to deliver customized outsourcing solutions that range in complexity from individual transaction-based functions to highly scaled-up operations. In this endeavor, our core competencies in platform-based services offering and ability to leverage relevant professional expertise and resources, strengthens our domain expertise and gives us a leading edge over our competitors.

Our multi-disciplinary team of professionals comprising of Chartered Accountants, MBAs, Company Secretaries and Cost Accountants, are well  equipped with the requisite business and technical skills, experience and knowledge in order to deliver relevant and cost-effective solutions to our clients across industries. Our professional expertise gives us the edge to develop and maintain a high level of competitive advantage and sustainable value adds for our clients.

Mynd operates on a SaaS (Software as a Service) model of service delivery thereby reducing the OPEX and completely removing any CAPEX for the client. Our superior efficiency and performance has helped us position ourselves as strong competitors to large ERP platform companies and international service companies alike.

Having already achieved the pinnacles of process and quality credentials (through ISO 27001:2013, SSAE 16/ISAE 3402 controls and Six Sigma), Mynd’s vision is focused on attaining leadership in the areas of Business, Customer and People.

Mynd’s Success Stories of Shared Services –

Case Study 1

 

Case Study 2

Saurav Wadhwa

Co-founder & CEO

Saurav Wadhwa is the Co-founder and CEO of MYND Integrated Solutions. Saurav spearheads the company’s strategic vision—identifying new market opportunities, unfolding product and service catalogues, and driving business expansion across multiple geographies and functions. Saurav brings expertise in business process enablement and is a seasoned expert with over two decades of experience establishing and scaling Shared Services, Process Transformation, and Automation.

Saurav’s leadership and strategy expertise are backed by extensive hands-on involvement in Finance and HR Automation, People and Business Management and Client Relationship Management. Over his career, he has played a pivotal role in accelerating the growth of more than 800 businesses across diverse industries, leveraging innovative automation solutions to streamline operations and reduce costs.

Before becoming CEO, Saurav spent nearly a decade at MYND focusing on finance and accounting outsourcing. His background includes proficiency in major ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, and Great Plains, and he has a proven track record of optimizing global finance operations for domestic and multinational corporations.

Under Saurav’s leadership, MYND Integrated Solutions maintains a forward-thinking culture—prioritizing continuous learning, fostering ethical practices, and embracing next-generation technologies such as RPA and AI-driven analytics. He is committed to strategic partnerships, long-term business development, and stakeholder transparency, ensuring that MYND remains at the forefront of the BPM industry.

A firm believer that “Leadership and Learning are indispensable to each other,” Saurav consistently seeks new ways to evolve MYND’s capabilities and empower clients with best-in-class business process solutions.

Vivek Misra

Founder & Group MD

Vivek is the founder of MYND Integrated Solutions. He is a successful entrepreneur with a strong background in Accounts and Finance. An alumnus of Modern School and Delhi University, Vivek has also undertaken prestigious courses on accountancy with Becker and Business 360 management course with Columbia Business School, US.

Vivek is currently the Founder & Group MD of MYND Integrated Solutions. With over 22 years of experience setting up shared service centres and serving leading companies in the Manufacturing, Services, Retail and Telecom industries, his strong industry focus and client relationships have quickly enabled MYND to build credibility with 500+ clients. MYND has developed a niche in Shared services in India’s Finance and Accounting (FAO) and Human Resources (HR). MYND has also taken Solutions and services to the international space, offering multi-country services on a single platform under his leadership. Vivek has been instrumental in fostering mutually beneficial partnerships with global service providers, immensely benefiting MYND.

Mynd also forayed into a niche Fintech space with the setup of the M1xchange under the auspices of the RBI licence granted to only 3 companies across India. The exchange is changing the traditional field of bill discounting by bringing the entire process online along with the participation of banks through online auctioning.

Sundeep Mohindru

Founder Director

Sundeep initiated Mynd with a small team of just five people in 2002 and has been instrumental in steering it to evolve into a knowledge management company. He has brought about substantial improvements in growth, profitability, and performance, which has helped Mynd achieve remarkable customer, employee and stakeholder satisfaction. He has been involved in creating specialized service delivery models suitable for diverse client needs and has always created a new benchmark for Mynd and its team. Under his leadership, Mynd has developed niche products and implemented them on an all India scale for superior services. Mynd has been servicing a large number of multinational companies in India through its on-shore and off-shore model.

TReDS (Trade Receivable Discounting System) has been nurtured from a concept stage by Sundeep and the Mynd team. M1xchange, Mynd Online National Exchange for Receivables was successfully launched on April 7th, 2017. While spearheading the project, Sundeep and his team have built up the TReDS platform to meet RBI guidelines and enhance the transparency for all stakeholders. This platform and related service has the capability of transforming the way the receivable finance and other supply chain finance solutions are operating currently.

Sundeep is currently focused on providing strategic direction to the company and is working towards achieving high growth for Mynd, which will help in creating the products as per customer needs and increase its top line while maintaining the bottom line. He directly involves, develops, nurtures and manages all key client relationships of Mynd. He has also successfully acquired numerous preferred partners to support Mynd’s technology-based endeavors and scale up its business.

Sundeep has been the on the Board of Directors for many renowned companies. He has played a key role in planning the entry strategy and has set up subsidiaries for many multinational companies in India. In his leadership, Mynd has seen consistent growth at the rate of 20+ % CAGR from the year 2009 onwards. This was primarily because of investing into technology and bringing platform based offering in Accounting and HR domain for the customers.