Global Business Services (GBS) has moved far beyond its origins as a transactional cost-saving model. Approximately 85% of organizations are committed to the GBS model, whether fully deployed or transitioning within the next three to five years, according to the recently released SSON report “State of the Shared Services and Outsourcing Industry 2026.”
The mandate has evolved:
- From cost arbitrage → to enterprise value creation
- From transactional processing → to analytics and decision enablement
- From back-office support → to digital transformation leadership
For finance leaders, particularly those overseeing Order-to-Cash (O2C), this shift elevates AI and autonomous capabilities from experimentation and theory to strategic necessity, according to Naomi Secor, global managing director at SSON.
That said, Secor noted during an early 2026 episode of the Emagia AI For Finance Podcast that maturity regarding autonomous finance-related project planning and implementation remains uneven: Ambition may be high, but adoption is still in pilot phases.
The Expanding Scope of GBS: Beyond Transactions
According to SSON 2026 industry report data, there has been a significant broadening in scope, one where these operations are no longer considered “transactional finance.” They are now categorized more as: decision-enabling infrastructure. Consider the following statistics:
- ~45% of GBS organizations now provide data or business analytics services.
- ~55% manage enterprise master data.
- ~75% maintain Order-to-Cash as a core focus.
For CFOs and Controllers, this means GBS operations are no longer evaluated solely on efficiency metrics. They are measured on:
- Cash-flow optimization
- Customer experience
- Revenue enablement
- Enterprise data integrity
As the scope widens, automation and AI developments – including Agentic AI – must become foundational capabilities rather than incremental enhancements, Secor argues.
The Reality of AI Adoption: Ambition Outpaces Execution
Despite strong executive interest in generative and agentic AI, most organizations remain in early adoption stages.
Secor’s and her colleagues’ key research observations include:
- Automation maturity remains “medium” level across many GBS environments.
- Agentic AI initiatives remain largely in “pilot phases’ for now.
- No organizations report fully mature, end-to-end autonomous Order-to-Cash processes.
This reflects a critical gap: AI cannot compensate for fragmented data, unclear ownership, or broken processes. Attempting to deploy agentic AI without foundational process standardization – and often without the assistance of a third-party expert – risks amplifying inefficiencies rather than resolving them.
The Future of GBS: Digital Engine of the Enterprise
Over the next several years, Global Business Services will move decisively from being an efficient engine to becoming the digital control tower of the enterprise. The organizations that succeed will not merely automate processes — they will architect intelligence into the operating model itself.
Secor predicts three structural shifts will define this transformation:
1. Acceleration of Automation Maturity
Repeated research iterations show increasing AI adoption. Practical use cases will replace theoretical pilots. Rather than automating isolated tasks, GBS organizations will increasingly connect data, workflows, and decision logic across end-to-end processes.
This means Order-to-Cash will no longer operate as a sequence of discrete activities (billing, collections, disputes). Instead, it will function as an interconnected intelligence layer that dynamically prioritizes actions based on risk, behavior, and working capital impact.
2. GBS as the Digital Transformation Catalyst
Boards and executive committees will increasingly expect GBS to lead—not follow—enterprise transformation.
In the coming years, GBS will evolve into a strategic sandbox for AI experimentation and deployment. Because shared services already manage standardized high-volume processes, they provide an ideal environment to test intelligent automation safely before scaling enterprise wide.
This shift elevates the role of GBS leadership. Rather than focusing primarily on cost management, leaders will need to demonstrate their ability to enable innovation, accelerate transformation roadmaps, and deliver measurable business outcomes tied to revenue, risk, and resilience when evaluated.
3. Shift from Cost Center to Innovation Hub
The narrative around GBS is undergoing a permanent change. Cost reduction is no longer the headline — it is table stakes. GBS becomes the connective tissue across finance, HR, procurement, and analytics.
For Order-to-Cash leaders, this presents an opportunity: With autonomous finance capabilities freeing capacity from manual tasks, finance teams can shift toward advisory roles — serving as internal consultants to business units.
In this model, GBS becomes not just the operational backbone, but the value architect of the enterprise.
Final Perspective
GBS is no longer a support function. It is rapidly becoming the digital engine of the enterprise.
AI will not replace finance leadership. It will amplify organizations that combine:
- Clean data
- Clear governance
- Structured adoption
- Workforce transformation
Granted, this evolution of GBS and shared services hinges heavily on workforce transformation, almost as much as technological advancements themselves, according to Secor. Top emerging skill priorities must include improved and more focused problem solving, digital proficiency, process orchestration, and analytical reasoning.
Regardless, for CFOs and GBS leaders, the question is no longer focused on *if* AI will shape Order-to-Cash.
It is whether their operating model is prepared to harness it.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Is AI adoption in GBS accelerating?
Yes. Executive commitment is strong, and pilot activity is widespread. However, full maturity remains limited, especially in end-to-end autonomous O2C.
2. What is the biggest barrier to Agentic AI in finance?
Data fragmentation and governance immaturity. AI amplifies both strengths and weaknesses in underlying processes.
3. What are the most practical early wins for O2C leaders?
Collections prioritization, dispute routing, workflow orchestration, and credit risk modeling offer strong early ROI. Much of these potential successes, however, will be harder to achieve without a thoroughly planned AI and autonomous finance road map and a commitment to upskilling staff (as well as getting their buy-in) so they are prepared to leverage solutions to their fullest capabilities.
Discover more on this topic by reviewing the Emagia AI For Finance Podcast Episode “The Future is Now: Agentic AI and The Rapid Shift in GBS O2C Operations” featuring guest Naomi Secor. The episode can be accessed by clicking here: Agentic AI and the Rapid Shift in GBS Order-to-Cash Operations.
