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Recent findings indicate that artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being considered for integration into the shared services sector. Data from Shared Services & Outsourcing Week (SSOW) Europe shows that 38% of organisations expect agentic AI to replace some captive activities, while another 46% are exploring its potential use.
The upcoming State of the Shared Services Industry Report 2026, released ahead of the SSOW event in Portugal, highlights a shift in the sector from focusing solely on efficiency to considering broader strategic objectives. Cost optimisation remains the most common metric for value, cited by 85% of organisations, followed by customer satisfaction at 72%.
Organisations are also tracking growth-related metrics, including volume growth (32%), revenue improvement (21%), working capital improvement (21%), and margin improvement (19%). Automation maturity has increased, with 57% of respondents at a medium level and 9% at a high level, up from 2025.
Shared services continue to be widely applied in finance, including order-to-cash (87%) and purchase-to-pay (86%), as well as human resources functions such as payroll (40%) and benefits administration (34%). Data management (65%) and business analytics (49%) are also increasingly supported through shared services.
Cost allocation remains primarily based on Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) measures (55%), indicating that evaluating contributions beyond effort and efficiency can be challenging.
The SSOW Europe event at the Estoril Conference Centre, Portugal, will host over 850 attendees and feature speakers from organisations including Iron Mountain, Bekaert, Sanofi, Bosch, and Philip Morris International to discuss developments in shared services.
The data reflects a trend toward increasing AI adoption, enhanced automation, and digital investment as shared services evolve to support both operational and strategic business objectives.
