World Enterprise Providers (GBS) has advanced from back-office assist to a strategic development engine. With the shared companies market projected at $111.3B by 2025 and international digital transformation spend surpassing $2.5T, GBS is now firmly established as a business-critical enabler.
In an period of financial volatility, fast tech change, and rising expectations, leaders are prioritizing effectivity, agility, and enterprise worth. Listed here are the highest priorities shaping 2026, backed by market knowledge, govt insights, and real-world examples.
1. Elevating GBS to a Strategic Enterprise Companion
76% of GBS items now report back to the C-suite, underscoring their function in driving development and dealing capital enhancements. As Deloitte notes, price discount alone is a “deteriorating worth proposition.”
Nonetheless, solely 41% of corporations imagine their shared companies ship tangible worth (BCG). To shut the hole, leaders are shifting from transactional KPIs to value-based measures like income enablement and determination assist. Many are embedding Facilities of Excellence in analytics and course of enchancment instantly into enterprise strains, positioning GBS as an indispensable inside advisor.
2. Buyer-Centric Service Excellence
73% of GBS organizations rank service high quality amongst their high three priorities (SSON Analytics), second solely to price financial savings. Greater than half explicitly establish buyer expertise as important.
To ship, GBS items are rolling out clear SLAs, real-time suggestions loops, and even “buyer success” roles, borrowing from exterior service fashions. Enterprises now count on GBS to operate as a real enterprise companion, delivering agility, automation, and actionable insights.
3. Operational Effectivity and Value Optimization
Effectivity stays the inspiration: 90% of organizations cite it as their high driver (Deloitte), with almost half reporting 20%+ financial savings from their fashions. For big enterprises, this interprets into tens or tons of of hundreds of thousands yearly.
The main focus has shifted to clever price optimization utilizing automation, self-service, and course of redesign to cut back waste whereas bettering high quality. Main GBS teams reinvest financial savings into analytics, insights, and repair enhancements, making a cycle of steady worth.
4. Digital Transformation and Clever Automation
90% of GBS organizations now play a task of their firm’s digital agenda, but solely 20% charge themselves as superior (SSON).
The shift is towards end-to-end automation: AI-assisted workflows, doc processing, and built-in platforms. Starbucks’ Digital Course of Automation COE demonstrates the affect—35+ RPA use circumstances and 15 workflow apps have helped double annual financial savings development. For 2026, the precedence is scaling enterprise-wide automation and embedding digital into each workflow.
5. Generative AI and Subsequent-Gen Applied sciences
GenAI adoption has skyrocketed: from 10% in 2023 to 80% experimenting by late 2024, with greater than half piloting (SSON).
Early adopters report 54% quicker service supply and 51% greater output high quality. Use circumstances embody chatbots, doc processing, automated reporting, and predictive analytics. RPA stays the #2 funding space, displaying leaders are combining conventional automation with GenAI for an entire toolkit. Practically 60% of GBS teams are utilizing exterior companions to speed up adoption.
6. Increasing Scope and Transferring Up the Worth Chain
GBS is extending past transactional work. Practically 50% of leaders plan to broaden into determination assist, analysis, or end-customer companies, with one other 35% contemplating it (SSON).
Portfolios now embody knowledge analytics (43%), grasp knowledge administration (50%), tax (43%), statutory reporting (41%), and name middle assist (33%). Unilever and Procter & Gamble already use GBS for analytics-driven insights, provide chain assist, and innovation. For 2026, 77% of GBS items plan scope enlargement, with many extending into new geographies and enterprise strains.
7. World Supply Mannequin and Location Technique
85% of enterprises now run on the GBS mannequin (Deloitte), supported by multi-location networks for resilience, price, and expertise.
Nearshoring is accelerating: by 2026, 50% of companies will add hubs in Latin America or Europe, with Mexico, Portugal, and Poland becoming a member of India and the Philippines as key facilities (SSON). Hybrid fashions, balancing captive and outsourced supply have gotten the norm, enabling 24/7 operations, danger mitigation, and international expertise entry.
Conclusion
As GBS leaders step into 2026, the mandate is evident: ship effectivity and enterprise worth in equal measure. Value optimization stays important, however the future belongs to organizations that pair operational excellence with strategic affect, driving development, agility, and sustainability.
Not back-office utilities, right this moment’s GBS items function digital nerve facilities: scaling AI and automation, embedding analytics, increasing scope, and optimizing international supply. They’re customer-centric companions, not simply price managers, making certain, as Auxis places it, that “prospects come for the worth however keep for the worth.”
By doubling down on these high 10 priorities—from strategic partnering and repair excellence to next-gen tech, expertise, and ESG—Shared Providers organizations are positioning themselves on the forefront of enterprise evolution. The subsequent chapter guarantees each disruption and alternative, and GBS will probably be pivotal in powering clever, agile, and sustainable enterprises worldwide.
Sources:
- SSON Analytics: State of the Shared Providers & Outsourcing Business Report 2025[2][51]
- Auxis (by way of SSON Analysis): “10 Shared Providers Traits Shaping the GBS Business in 2025.” [8][19]
- Deloitte: 2025 World Enterprise Providers Survey Findings[52][4]
- The Hackett Group: Key Points Research 2024: GBS Priorities[3]
- EY: “How GBS is driving sustainable enterprise transformation”[48][47]
- SSON Analysis: GBS Govt Insights and Quotes[53][27]
- Starbucks GBS Case: PegaWorld 2024 Presentation[17][18]
- Deloitte Press Launch: GBS Mannequin Impacts (Aug 29, 2025)[54][55]
- SSON Analytics: Shared Providers Market and GBS Targets[1][56]
- Auxis/SSON: Shared Providers Traits on Expertise & Areas[29][41]