In shared services centers (SSC) or Global Business Services (GBS), the traditional model has long been: humans perform work, bots automate repetitive tasks, and managers monitor performance. But that model is no longer enough.
2025 ushers in a more sophisticated architecture for the GBS operating model — one where humans, RPA bots, and agentic AI co-exist. This is not about job cuts; it’s about role evolution.
The Triad of the Future Workforce
1. Humans: Their role shifts from executing routine tasks to curating decisions, interpreting escalations, and creating value. They become "agents’ supervisors," using judgment, strategy, and domain expertise.
2. Bots (RPA): These continue to handle predictable, rules-based work: data entry, reconciliation, ticket routing. But their role is narrower and more stable.
3. Agentic AI: These act autonomously — interpreting context, handling exceptions, escalating when needed, and learning from outcomes.
This triad provides the scale of automation, the intelligence of AI, and the judgment of humans.
Why This Model Delivers Strategic Advantage
- Scalability: Agents handle growing complexity, bots cover stable volume, humans focus on high-value tasks.
- Efficiency: Exceptions drop, rework reduces, cycle times compress.
- Resilience: Agentic systems self-learn; shared services adapt without constant reengineering.
- Value shift: GBS organizations move from cost centers to strategic enablers delivering insights, innovation, and continuous improvement.
How to Build This Workforce Model
- Define new operating roles: Decide which decisions agents make, which bots handle, and which humans oversee.
- Create a CoE: Set up a Center of Excellence for agent + bot orchestration, maintenance, governance and feedback.
- Invest in upskilling: Train service-center staff to manage agents, monitor performance and intervene when needed.
- Measure new KPIs: Track not just transactions processed, but exception resolution rates, agent ROI, bot health, and human intervention quality.
Challenges & Mitigations
- Resistance to change: People may fear displacement. Mitigate by emphasizing role elevation, not job elimination.
- Governance gap: Agents require robust governance. Build policies, audit trails, and escalation pathways.
- Technical debt: Orchestrating multiple automation layers (bots + agents) needs architecture discipline. Use integration and modular design.
Realistic Roadmap
- Pilot: Choose an area (like invoice processing or ticket resolution) to test the triad model.
- Scale: Expand to other domains after refining processes and governance.
- Institutionalize: Make the triad model a core part of your GBS strategy — documented, measured, optimized.
The Strategic Vision
In the future GBS organization, humans don’t disappear — they evolve. Bots don’t oversaturate — they specialize. Agents don’t run amok — they operate within secure, accountable guardrails.
This new workforce model is not just more efficient; it’s future-ready, resilient, and deeply intelligent. For leaders in shared services, this is the architecture shift that can transform GBS from a back-office engine to a self-driving operational powerhouse.
