From Tired to Inspired: Improving Your Shared Services Brand
Need to revitalize your internal brand for shared services? Trying to move beyond transactional processing? Many shared services centers (SSCs) are at a crossroads. Some, a few years in, are trying to reinvigorate their brand as enthusiasm fades. Others are mired in high-volume transactional work that isn’t relevant when performed flawlessly and is hotly criticized when it’s not. These SSCs are doing tens of thousands of transactions a month, so they spend much of their time addressing complaints with customers instead of discussing ways to add value.
What is your SSC brand? What image comes to mind when customers think about your organization, your leadership team, and the cost and quality of the services you provide? No matter what business they’re in, your customers think about their branding in the marketplace and the collective equity it provides the corporation. They work hard to differentiate their brand to evoke images of quality, reliability, value and relevance. While you are part of that brand, you also have your own brand to think about. And while your customers enhance their brands through overt mechanisms such as advertising, selling, promotion and marketing, your branding requires more subtlety and discretion.
To learn more about the practical steps that can be taken to enhance your SSC brand through improved satisfaction, expanded services, increased organizational relevance and delivery of long-term strategic value download the article. It was ranked number three in the top 10 most read EquaTerra articles in 2010.
Impressions do last. Customers would always associate a company with the impressions that they give. In order to always maintain a squeaky clean impression, companies should always offer something new. And never engage in practices which would undoubtedly tarnish its reputation. It may sound simple, but it is definitely hard work.