Breaking Free of the Silo

Since the early 1990s, companies have had to deal with exponentially increasing competitive pressure, complexity, and speed. Against this background, the concept of shared services has taken on growing prominence. Shared services are formerly decentralized support functions that have been bundled and provided to company units through a one-stop service center. Operating as a hybrid of external-market and internal-control mechanisms, shared services enable companies to unlock a wide range of benefits.