GBS Rewired

What does a GBS team actually look like when half of transactional work is automated? In this episode, Shaji Farooq, CEO of Chazey Partners, joins the podcast to unpack the new people strategy for a human-led, AI-enabled world. We explore where leaders are getting the balance between people and AI wrong, what "human-led" really means when agents make the first call on most decisions, and how the profile of a good hire is changing. We also look at how org charts, reporting lines and spans of control are being redrawn as manual work thins out. 

To learn more about Chazey Partners, visit their website here. 

As Agentic AI moves from concept to capability, the hardest part of GBS leadership isn't the technology; it's the judgment required to deploy it well. In this episode of GBS Rewired, host Sally Fletcher sits down with Dr. Sumit Mitra, CEO of Tesco Business Solutions, to unpack what an Agentic or "Intelligent GBS" really looks like in practice: how to manage hybrid human-agent teams, which tasks should never be automated, and the practical steps leaders can take right now to get ahead of the curve. Drawing on Tesco Business Solutions' track record, including two wins of SSON's World's Best GBS and seven consecutive years in SSON's Top 20 Most Admired GBS, Sumit shares what separates a good GBS from a truly great one.

Agentic AI is transforming Global Business Services: but are you budgeting for the hidden cost behind every AI decision?

In this episode, Sally Fletcher sits down with Hypatos CEO Uli Erxleben to explore the growing impact of AI token costs. As organizations scale AI agents across finance and shared services, token consumption can quickly become one of the biggest drivers of operating costs.

Discover why falling token prices don't necessarily mean lower AI bills, how token economics should influence build-versus-buy decisions, and what leading organizations are doing to control costs through smarter deployment and outcome-based pricing.

Whether you're leading GBS, finance transformation, or enterprise AI initiatives, this conversation will change how you think about the true cost of Agentic AI.

Read more about managing token costs here. 

Register for our next webinar on Securing Agentic AI at Scale. 

In this episode, Frank Schüler, Managing Director of Global Business Services at DHL Global Forwarding, shares how he leads one of the world's largest GBS organizations, supporting global operations with 6,000 people, 160 automation bots, and AI-driven innovation. He explores the rise of agentic AI, managing a hybrid workforce of people and digital workers, and the leadership principles behind building a high-performing, people-first organization.

Many GBS leaders still lead with "we save money," but is that still the right pitch? In this episode, Steve Rudderham, SVP GBS at Ecolab, joins us to talk about the shift from cost center to value engine. Drawing on his experience leading GBS organizations at Carrier, AkzoNobel, Kellogg's, and now Ecolab, Steve explains why "we save money" is the flip-phone version of the conversation, where agentic AI is already moving the needle on revenue and customer outcomes, and his honest take on the "our data isn't ready" excuse. 

In this episode, we cover: 

• What separates a world-class GBS from a transactional service center — and how that shift shows up internally at Ecolab 
• Why automation doesn't have to mean headcount reduction, and what the role of people looks like in an Agentic GBS 
• Accountability in an agentic world: who owns the outcome when AI agents act autonomously, and when "good enough" data is good enough to start 

Data quality isn't the most glamorous topic in enterprise AI — but it might be the most important one. In this episode, Sally Fletcher, Head of Thought Leadership & Community, Hypatos, sits down with Vandana Khanna, a global finance and technology leader at MetLife who is leading the company's Finance Modernization and Digital Transformation initiative. With experience spanning insurance, consumer goods, telecom, and retail, Vandana brings a rare blend of strategic vision and operational reality to one of AI's most underestimated challenges. 

We dig into what "AI-ready" actually means in practice, why bad data is so costly and so hard to catch, and how leaders can navigate the politics of data ownership inside large organizations. From the minimum data-quality bar for a successful AI implementation to the structural changes that would have the greatest downstream impact, this is a candid conversation about the unglamorous groundwork that determines whether AI succeeds or fails. 

If you're under pressure to move fast with AI, this episode is essential listening. 

If you want to learn more about how to implement Agentic AI, download our whitepaper here.

Everyone's running AI pilots, but how many are actually delivering real business impact? In this episode, we're joined by Sefa Soybir, Senior Manager and Agentic GBS Lead at EY, where he helps organisations move beyond the hype and embed agentic AI into real business processes.  

We get into what separates a genuinely compelling AI use case from one that just looks good in a demo, and the criteria Sefa recommends before greenlighting any agentic initiative. We also tackle one of the hardest parts of AI transformation — realising the downstream impact. Automation rates and productivity stats are one thing, but how do those numbers actually translate into business value? And what do you do with the headcount you've released? 

We'll also cover the human side: smoothing out change management, bringing employees on the journey, and securing executive buy-in for something as ambiguous and fast-moving as agentic AI. If you're trying to build credible AI initiatives that stick, this one's for you. 

The AI conversation in Global Business Services is loud; but how much of it is grounded in reality? In this episode, we sit down with two of the most authoritative voices in the GBS industry: Naomi Secor and Barbara Hodge, SSON Research & Analytics. Together, bringing over four decades of experience tracking the trends and transformations shaping shared services worldwide. 

 They're here to cut through the noise and give us the data-backed truth on where GBS organisations actually stand on AI maturity and adoption. We get into the real debate around Agentic AI — what it means for service delivery models, whether GBS organisations are genuinely reducing headcount, and what the research says about how teams and skills are evolving on the ground.  

 If you've been wondering what's hype and what's real, this is the episode for you. 

 Throughout the episode, we reference the following: 

SSON R&A’s State of the Shared Services Industry 2026 

Intelligent Automation Universe 

World’s Best GBS Award 

As enterprises shift from AI pilots to full-scale deployment in 2026, the real challenges emerge — and 40% of agentic AI projects are predicted to fail. In this episode of GBS Rewired, host Sally Fletcher sits down with CK Taneja, SVP of Transformation and Innovation at Northern Trust, to unpack the operational, governance, and architectural challenges of scaling agentic AI; and how to ensure your organization beats the odds. 

In this episode of GBS Rewired, Sally Fletcher speaks with Jan Nikus, Vice President of KONE Business Services, about the importance of user experience (UX) in global business services. KONE's substantial investment in UX has been a cornerstone of its recent strategic initiatives, focusing on making work easier for business users across 50 countries. Jan discusses how UX is not just about technology but also about cultivating behaviors and ownership among team members to drive seamless operations. This approach aims to balance local needs with global standards, emphasizing the integration of user-centric strategies within the company's broader goals.

Learn more about building an Agentic Global Business Services with Hypatos.