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Mahabalipuram, Dec 5 & 6, 2024 — SSF Global, a ‘Pioneering’ Industry association for GCC, Global Business Services, Technology & Corporate Function Leaders, celebrated a significant milestone with the successful culmination of its 13th Annual Global Enterprise Services Conclave. Held on December 5th & 6th, 2024, at The WelcomHotel by ITC Kenses Palm Beach in Mahabalipuram, the 2-day conclave saw participation from over 100 CXOs/ senior practitioners from GBS, SSC, GCC, ERD and all models of in-house captive or enterprise services organizations, Corporate Functions, and Tech Experts from various cities across India and overseas.

The exclusive forum, ‘of Practitioners, by Practitioners, for Practitioners’ in the Enterprise Services space – executed interactive brainstorming sessions on multiple topics, and insightful presentations & discussions –based on the innovative umbrella theme of:

A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF GCC & ENTERPRISE SERVICES
Elevating from Good to Great – Now, Next and New

The program featured over 40 distinguished industry leaders as speakers who shared their experiential insights and thought leadership through business case stories, deliberations, and case presentations.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

Day One: 5th Dec 2024

  • Conclave Inauguration by Thiru. Kumar Jayant: The conclave was flagged-off with a traditional lamp lighting ceremony by Thiru. Kumar Jayant, Additional Chief Secretary of IT & Digital Services Department – Government of Tamil Nadu and SSF Governing Council. Thiru. Kumar Jayant shared his inspiring thoughts and set the context in his inaugural address.

    Thiru.Kumar Jayant

    L-R: Ravi S Ramakrishnan, Rakesh Sinha, Thiru.
    Kumar Jayant, V.V. Ranganathan, Sanjay Gupta, Anand Maheshwari, Ajay Seth

    L-R: Rakesh Sinha, Thiru. Kumar Jayant,
    Ravi S Ramakrishnan

    L-R: Anand Maheshwari, Bharath M Sundaram, Rakesh
    Sinha, Thiru. Kumar Jayant, Ravi S Ramakrishnan, Sanjay Gupta

  • A comprehensive research report – ‘Beyond Boundaries: GCCs Shaping Tomorrow’s Enterprises’ – jointly prepared by Everest Group & SSF Global, was unveiled by the distinguished leaders of Everest Group, SSF Global and ‘Guest of Honor’ – Thiru. Kumar Jayant.
  • L-R: Anand Maheshwari, Rakesh Sinha, Thiru.Kumar Jayant, Ravi S Ramakrishnan, Sanjay Gupta

    This year’s conclave witnessed the release of the first of it’s kind – Coffee Table Book, titled ‘Enterprise Excellence’ – a testimony of the hard work, thought leadership and stellar work of the business services practitioners. The Coffee Table Book celebrates ‘Inspiring & Impact Leaders, Transformative Ideas, and Strategic Insights in GCCs & Beyond’ through the listing of “Inspiring Women Leaders” and “Highly Influential Impact Leaders” in GCC & Enterprise Services.

  • Dr Mukesh Aghi

    Dr Mukesh Aghi, President & CEO, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, delivered a Special Address on the topic ‘India emerging as a ‘Global Tech Leader – An Imperative Toolkit to the Vision of Viksit Bharat@ 2047’ – where he emphasized about building on the strong foundation of US-India Strategic Partnership.

  • Lalit Ahuja

    Lalit Ahuja, Co-founder & CEO, ANSR Inc. delivered a special address, where he presented his point of view on – ‘India as a GCC Capital’. SSF Global felicitated Lalit Ahuja with SSF Excellence Awards & Recognition as the – “PIONEERING BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADER IN GCC – For Creativity, Vision & Leading the Mission of Global Capability Centre in India, delivering Value and Impact to Industry, Business and Society.”

  • ‘TIES’ Tool for GCCs: Presentation & Demonstration in Progress by Sanjay Gupta, Abhinav Goel and Saravana Rajan

    New Initiatives: Mahabalipuram witnessed the unveiling of a Self-assessment Tool for evaluating Tech-Integrated Enterprise Services – ‘TIES’ – as a part of the “The Next & New in GCC” agenda. This tool is based on the efficient capability framework ‘TIES’ – unveiled by SSF Global in 2023.

    Ravi S Ramakrishnan

    SSF Global Founder, Ravi S Ramakrishnan conducted the Masterclass: ‘The Indigenization & Barbell Strategy.’ He spoke about Unleashing the Power of Collaboration & the Growing Ecosystem’, emphasizing Shop made and Bought out to Co-exist.’

  • Panel Discussions: Engaging and interactive deliberations covered topics such as Value Delivery, Building the Multi-Dimensional Next Line, GBS & GCCs as Agents of Change, Gen AI Adoption and more.
  • L to R: Dr Sanjeev Rastogi(on screen), Gauri Chandra Sanjay Dora, Sanket Sinha

    Panel Session: Leadership Perspectives – Charting the Course was on the topic “Reinventing the New Transformation Frontiers in the World of AI” 
    Our eminent speakers – Dr Sanjeev Rastogi, Chief Executive Officer, GCC – Adani Group; Gauri Chandra, Chief Executive Officer – RM India; Sanjay Dora, Former COO – GBS & India Country Head, TESCO; and Sanket Sinha, Associate VP, Digital Process Operations – HCLTech (Session Moderator) – deep dived to provide valuable insights on the relevance and importance for creating a centre of expertise or center of competence for value creation. They also covered critical success factors like:

    • Strategic Principles of AI Adoption
    • Challenges of Integrating existing legacy tech & ERP with Adoption of AI

Day Two: 6th Dec 2024

    • L to R: Abhinav Goel, Ankit Gupta, Anil Kumar Radhakrishnan, Shankar Iyer

      Expert Panel: “Driving holistic Sustainability Agenda – GBS & GCCs as Agents of Change” – had industry experts – Anil Kumar Radhakrishnan, CFO – Plant Lipids; Shankar Iyer, Director VBU – Johnson Controls;

      Ankit Gupta, President – Brookfield Properties; and Abhinav Goel, Vice President – Strategic Initiatives – SSF Global  (Session Moderator) – providing their experiential insights and perspectives on:

      • Embedding Sustainability into Core Business Processes
      • Leveraging Technology for Impactful Sustainability
      • Leverage Financial Insights to model cost benefits of sustainable practices
      • Driving holistic sustainability and Workplace ecosystem development

    • Leadership Challenge: “Building the Multi-Dimensional Next Line – Developing the Next Generation Business Services Leaders with Global Outlook” – This leadership conversation amongst Urs-Ulrich Katzenstein, Head Business Development – Continental Europe – Quintes Global; Sunil Kumar, Center Head, World Bank Group; Sandeep Kulkarni, Senior VP & Head – Worley Enterprise Services; Jaideep Agarwal, India GBS Leader – Warner Bros. Discovery; and Sanjay Gupta, Chief Architect – SSF Global (Session Moderator), covered all the crucial elements required for Building a Resilient and Agile Talent Pipeline:-

      • Driving Purpose-Led Leadership, focusing on sustainability, ethical practices, and social impact
      • AI-driven talent analytics and global leadership simulations to identify, nurture, and track the development of high-potential talent
      • Promoting a mindset of innovation, empowering emerging leaders to experiment, fail fast, and embrace continuous learning in navigating global market dynamics
  • L to R: Sriram Gopalakrishnan, Dr S Venkat Kumar, Hemamalini Venkatramanan, Nilesh Bhatia

    Success Stories of Value Delivery: “Discover the Differences” – Redefining the Value Markers & KPIs – Becoming an Enterprise Partner and Realizing Enterprise Level Business Outcomes – GBS/ GCC Leaders – Sriram Gopalakrishnan, Director Global Shared Services – V.Group; Hemamalini Venkataraman, Head GBS Service Delivery – FLSmidth; Dr S Venkat Kumar, Principal Consultant – Business Support (Asia Pacific & Middle East) – KONE Elevators India; Nilesh Bhatia, SVP, Head Customer Delivery & Ops – Quintes Global (Session Moderator) – presented and brainstormed on the nuances for Evolving from Cost Centers to Strategic Partners, which included:

    • Redefining Value Metrics
    • Leveraging Data & Insights
    • Embedding End-to-End Ownership and Accountability
    • Building Collaborative Models for Value Creation
  • L to R: Tanmay Agarwal (on screen), Sankar Narayan S, Geetha Ramamoorthi, Atul Kulshreshtha

    Listening from Practitioners – Higher, Faster & Stronger dealt with – “Achieving Business Impact through GenAI Adoption” – saw a very dynamic conversation amongst Tanmay Agarwal, VP & Head Global Shared Services – Wipro; Sankar Narayan S, GBS India Head – Smith & Nephew; Geetha Ramamoorthi, Managing Director – KBR Inc.; Dr Durga Prakash Devarakonda, Former MD, GCC India – Elevance Health Inc; and Atul Kulshreshtha, SVP, Strategic Growth & AI Sol. – Quintes Global (Session Moderator) – Covering all areas of relevance:

    • Strategic Use Cases Driving Business Outcomes
    • Overcoming Implementation Challenges such as data quality, privacy concerns, and resourcing
    • Shaping the Future with Gen AI to build a foundation for long-term business transformation and decision-making
  • L to R: Koushik Krishnan, Geeta Gadekar, Vijay Samuel, Bharath M Sundaram

    Fireside Chat: “Solving the Data Puzzle – What, When, How?” – A power packed, charged conversation amongst industry leaders Koushik Krishnan, Director – Process Transformation – Bunge; Geeta Gadekar, CEO, India – Publicis Re:Sources; Vijay Samuel, VP & Head Ops – Annalect India (Omnicom Media Grp Co); and Bharath M Sundaram, Vice President – Everest Group (Session Moderator) covered points like:

    • Driving towards the Single Source of Truth – Challenges & learnings
    • Driving Value Creation and Innovation much beyond Cost saves
    • Balancing between Legacy Technology and new age solutions – Why and How?
    • Leveraging data for Moving Up the Partnership value chain to become Enterprise
  • L to R: Kaleeswaran Arunachalam, Ajay Wadhwa, Tarun Aahi, Sushil Kedia, Richard Alvares, Anand Maheshwari

    Leadership Insights: “Catalysing Transformation through Business Services Operations for India HQ Companies” – represented by industry experts Kaleeswaran Arunachalam, Group CFO & Head of Strategy – Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals; Ajay Wadhwa, CEO – TML Business Services (Tata Motors); Sushil Kedia, COO, Business Delivery Centre – Tata Steel; Tarun Aahi, VP & Head of Shared Services Centre – JSPL; Richard Alvares, VP and Head Program & Business Transformation – Shared Service – UltraTech Cement; and Anand Maheswari, Founder Director & Chief Commercial Officer – Quintes Global (Session Moderator) covered key aspects from the India Company standpoint:

    • What are the key Challenges and Opportunities?
    • How to gain Board/ Top Management Sponsorship for contemporising the operations
    • How to be better positioned as the ‘Transformation Leaders’ or Center of Expertise/ Capabilities and not getting diluted as a back-office processing department?
  • Inspirational Address by Capt. Raghu Raman was a star attraction at the 2-day Conclave. The captain took the audience through story telling sessions to share some valuable nuggets on the topic: “Three Diseases That Are Killing Organizations”
  • L-R: V.V Ranganathan, Rakesh Sinha, Ajay Wadhwa, Ajay Seth, Urs Ulrich Katzenstein, Ravi S Ramakrishnan

    We were honored to have the presence of V.V. Ranganathan, Jury Chair – SSF Excellence Awards & Recognition; Former Senior Partner – EY along with, Urs-Ulrich Katzenstein, Jury Member – SSF Excellence Awards & Recognition; Head BD Continental Europe – Quintes Global, on Day-1 of the Conclave. Both the dignitaries shared about SSF Excellence Awards process, competitors and announced the results.

  • Awards & Recognitions: Ajay Wadhwa (CEO – TML Business Services) was felicitated with the ‘BPM Achiever in Global India’ – For Stellar Contribution in a Transformational, Strategic Leadership and Operations Role in Global India, Delivering Value and Business Impact.
  • SSF Global also presented the Excellence Awards to 9 organizations for various categories:–

    3. Bharti Airtel for “Outstanding Business Services Centre – India”

    2. Smith+Nephew for “Outstanding Business Services Centre – International”

    6. Hitachi Energy for “Delivering Business Impact Through Effective Digital Transformation

    4. Tata Motors for “Delivering Business Impact Through Effective Digital Transformation (India)”

    5. EY GDS for “Delivering Business Impact Through Innovative People Practices”

    6. Alcon Global Services (AGS) for “Delivering Business Impact Through Innovation & Excellence in Process”

    7. Britannia Industries, received a Special Recognition for “Effective Business Services Implementation in India”

    Warner Bros. Discovery received a Special Recognition for “Successful Launch of Business Services Centre in India

    9.  Northern Trust Corporation for “Delivering Business Impact Through Exemplary Customer Experience”

  • Sponsors & PartnersThe conclave’s success was aptly supported by our esteemed partners and sponsors, Knowledge Partner, RvaluE Group; Principal Sponsor, HCLTech; Industry Partners, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), and Australia-India Chamber of Commerce (AICC); Co-Sponsor, Quintes Global; Research Partner, Everest Group; Workspace Partner, Brookfield Properties; Financial Wellness Partner, ICICI Prudential AMC; Corporate Sponsors, UpGrad, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, WorldatWork, and Britannia Industries; Academic Partner, SRM Institute of Science; and Technology Partner, Muniwar Technologies.

    SSF Global expresses gratitude to all participants, speakers, and partners for making the 13th Annual Global Enterprise Services Conclave a resounding success. The event has not only reinforced SSF Global’s commitment to shaping the Enterprise Functions, Technology & GCCs, but has also paved the way for future collaborations and advancements in the ever-evolving landscape of enterprise services.

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

About SSF Global

Incepted in 2011, SSF Global (Shared Services Forum) is a Pioneering Industry Association for GCC, Global Business Services, Enterprise Functions, and Technology Leaders. It is an exclusive forum, ‘of Practitioners, by Practitioners, for Practitioners’ in the Enterprise Services Space. The association brings together GBS/ SSC/ GCC/ ERD and all forms of in-house captive or shared services organizations, and Corporate Functions with the strategic intent, inter alia, to include the following purposes:

  1. GCC/GBS & BPM Strategy:Help spread Shared Services adoption and Business Process Management in organizations across private/public sector, large/medium/small enterprises and multiple domains/ verticals.
  2. Winning Practices:Enable exchange of best/ next and winning practices from practitioners and industry leaders, and adapt global practices to apply to requirements of Indian Organizations
  3. Community Network:Build industry network of leaders and help nurture/develop the capabilities of leaders to become successful.
  4. ExcellenceAwards & Recognition: Honor, recognize and promote transformative strategies for Shared Services as well as Leaders who enable such transformation.

Organizations join this unique Industry association as Members to stay abreast with the latest trends/ best & next practices, enabling creation of ‘best-in-context’ strategies for their respective organizations.

SSF Global has under its belt, success of 13 Annual Conclave Events, 100+ awards for Shared Service Organizations for Excellence in BPM, 20+ Pioneering leaders & BPM Achievers felicitated, 400+ Innovators & Leaders have presented Industry Insights & 100+ case presentations, 10 Pioneering Research published including first of its kind SSC Survey & BPM in Global India, 20+ Frameworks for Building Capabilities, Process Edge Journal, 50+ Functional Summits, Leadership Interactions and RoundTables across the Globe…

For membership, partnering or any other query, write to info@sharedservicesforum.in or to pallavi.jayaswal@sharedservicesforum.in