Transforming fragmented operations into strategic, scalable services
Acquis partners with organizations to design the service delivery model that fits where they are and where they need to go. Whether coordinated services, a shared service center, or a fully integrated Global Business Services (GBS) model, we evaluate every engagement through five interconnected lenses: people, process, technology, data, and governance.
Operating models that can't keep pace create drag
Macroeconomic pressures are forcing a hard question: is the way we deliver services actually built for where we're going? The organizations pulling ahead are already redesigning. The ones that aren't are falling behind.
Misaligned functions create compounding costs
When corporate functions are not aligned to deliver strategic value, the gaps compound fast. Mounting cost pressure, AI investments that fail to deliver, and workforce changes that outpace the operating model underneath them all point to the same root cause. The operating model that got the organization here cannot support where it needs to go. Leaders often recognize something is broken but struggle to locate the problem precisely because the real issue is not any single function. It is how the five dimensions of people, process, technology, data, and governance interact across the whole value chain.
Integrated service delivery unlocks value across the operating model
Every Acquis engagement starts with a clear-eyed analysis of your current state. Not to confirm a predetermined answer, but to identify where your specific value opportunities exist. From there, we design and sequence the transformation in the order that captures the most value while managing organizational disruption. Because we bring no commercial interest in any particular outcome, the right model looks different for every organization; we assess first, then build for yours.
No two organizations have the same definition of value
We don't apply a standard GBS framework and call it transformation. We identify what value actually looks like for your organization and design toward it.
Strategic Operating Models
Most organizations sit somewhere between fragmented operations and fully integrated GBS. The right service delivery model depends on an honest read of where you are and where you are going. Acquis brings the diagnostic depth to assess your actual operating maturity across all five dimensions, and the design experience to build a model that performs at your stage and scales with your strategy. We don't fit organizations to models. We build models around organizations.
Your Value Fingerprint
Every organization has a unique value combination shaped by efficiency opportunities, capability gaps, service quality levers, and cost management. We identify where yours sits. Our assessment surfaces the specific intersections of cost, capability, and service quality that matter most in your context so the model we design reflects your organization's actual value equation, not an industry average.
Technology-Enabled Transformation
Technology is not a layer we add at the end. It is a lens through which we evaluate and design from the start. We help you define your GBS technology ecosystem, evaluate and select the right tools for your specific operating context, and integrate automation and data capabilities at the right stage of maturity. The goal is a technology foundation that supports your operating model today and scales with it over time.
Value Preservation Through Cost Reduction
Reducing cost without degrading capability is a design challenge, not just a financial one. We apply a proprietary sequenced methodology that captures cost at each stage while protecting service quality, employee experience, and organizational agility. The result is a leaner operating model that performs better, not just cheaper.
AI-Ready Operating Models
AI adoption is accelerating across every industry, but implementing AI tools without first transforming the people, processes, data, and governance around them is where most organizations stall. The technology rarely fails, the readiness does. We design GBS models that address the organizational conditions AI requires to actually perform: clear processes, quality data, defined governance, and a workforce prepared to adopt it. The best AI available will not deliver value in an environment that was not designed to receive it.
We guide your GBS transformation from vision to sustained performance
Our methodology
Our end-to-end service offering covers every phase of the GBS journey. We engage where you need us most and because every recommendation traces back to a validated business case built on your numbers, you always know what you are getting and why. What sets our engagement model apart is sequencing. Most transformations underdeliver not because the strategy was wrong, but because the work happened in the wrong order. We are deliberate about which phase comes first and why, because the order in which you tackle people, process, technology, data, and governance determines how much value you actually capture.
Our methodology
Our end-to-end service offering covers every phase of the GBS journey. We engage where you need us most and because every recommendation traces back to a validated business case built on your numbers, you always know what you are getting and why. What sets our engagement model apart is sequencing. Most transformations underdeliver not because the strategy was wrong, but because the work happened in the wrong order. We are deliberate about which phase comes first and why, because the order in which you tackle people, process, technology, data, and governance determines how much value you actually capture.
Strategy
We work with leadership to establish a shared vision for what GBS should accomplish, surface trade-offs, pressure-test assumptions, and build a size-of-prize analysis grounded in your actual cost baseline. The output is a business case leadership can align on and a transformation scope precise enough to execute against.
Foundations
You cannot design a better operating model without an honest read of the current one. We assess organizational maturity across people, process, technology, data, and governance to identify where performance is leaking, where complexity has accumulated, and where the greatest opportunities exist. This is the analytical foundation that makes everything downstream faster, more targeted, and more defensible.
Design
With a clear baseline established, we design the target operating model, defining service taxonomy, process standards, organizational structure, SLA/KPI frameworks, and governance mechanisms. Every design decision traces back to the value equation we identified in assessment, producing a blueprint specific enough to execute with confidence.
Execution
Strategy only creates value when it is implemented. We work alongside your team through the full execution phase, developing service catalogs and SLAs, designing and managing strategic partner RFPs from selection through ongoing relationship management, standing up the Transformation Management Office, and leading the change management work that determines whether new ways of working actually take hold. We build your organization’s capability as we go, so when the engagement ends, the model runs without us.
Why choose Acquis
Our only agenda is yours
Most GBS advisors arrive with a preferred answer: a technology platform, an outsourcing relationship, or a very rigid model they've built before and will build again. Acquis doesn't. What we bring instead is direct experience building and running shared services organizations, combined with the full implementation capability to carry strategy through to results.
Vendor-neutral by design
Our GBS practice operates on a clear commitment: the right answer is yours, not ours. While Acquis has long-standing partner relationships, our recommendations are not shaped by them. When we point you in a direction, it is because your operating context supports it.
A proprietary approach to value sequencing
Capturing transformation value requires working in the right order. Acquis brings a proprietary framework for evaluating and sequencing opportunities that maximizes ROI, accelerates value realization, and reduces organizational disruption at every stage.
A business case built on your numbers
Vague savings estimates erode leadership confidence before transformation begins. We build a validated business case grounded in your actual cost baseline so leadership has the clarity to act and a realistic picture of when returns arrive.
Practitioners who build with you
Our consultants have built and run shared services organizations, not just advised on them. We design for implementation reality, work as an extension of your team, and build your organization's capability as we deliver, so when the engagement ends, the model runs without us.
Vendor-neutral by design
Our GBS practice operates on a clear commitment: the right answer is yours, not ours. While Acquis has long-standing partner relationships, our recommendations are not shaped by them. When we point you in a direction, it is because your operating context supports it.
A proprietary approach to value sequencing
Capturing transformation value requires working in the right order. Acquis brings a proprietary framework for evaluating and sequencing opportunities that maximizes ROI, accelerates value realization, and reduces organizational disruption at every stage.
A business case built on your numbers
Vague savings estimates erode leadership confidence before transformation begins. We build a validated business case grounded in your actual cost baseline so leadership has the clarity to act and a realistic picture of when returns arrive.
Practitioners who build with you
Our consultants have built and run shared services organizations, not just advised on them. We design for implementation reality, work as an extension of your team, and build your organization's capability as we deliver, so when the engagement ends, the model runs without us.
FAQs
What is GBS?
Global Business Services (GBS) is an operating model that consolidates enterprise functions into centralized, cost-optimized, unified governance structures. Organizations have a range of service delivery models available to them, from loosely coordinated functional towers to fully integrated global delivery. GBS sits at the more integrated end of that spectrum, and when designed well, transforms enabling functions from cost centers into strategic assets.
Is GBS right for our organization given our size and where we are today?
GBS is one model on a broader spectrum of shared services maturity, and it is not the right destination for every organization at every stage. Smaller or less complex organizations may find significantly more value in coordinated services or a focused shared service center than in a fully integrated GBS model. What matters is not where you end up but whether the model you build is designed for your organization's specific size, complexity, and strategic objectives. Our assessment process is designed to answer that question honestly, and if a lighter model delivers more value for your context, that is what we will recommend.
What if we already have some shared services in place?
Our services span the full spectrum of shared services maturity, from organizations just beginning to centralize functions to those with fully integrated GBS models looking to optimize performance. Wherever you are, we assess your current state, identify where value is being left on the table, and design the path forward. That might mean rationalizing what exists, expanding scope, evolving governance, or unlocking the next level of performance from a model that is already running.
Which functions does Acquis support within a GBS engagement?
We work across the full range of enterprise service functions including Finance, HR, IT, Procurement, Call Centers, and beyond. The right starting point depends on your specific process landscape, organizational readiness, and where the greatest improvement opportunity exists.
What is a value fingerprint and how does Acquis develop one?
A Value Fingerprint is our way of mapping the specific intersections of cost, capability, and service quality that are most relevant to your organization. Rather than applying industry benchmarks, we assess your actual operating landscape across people, process, technology, data, and governance to identify where value is being lost and where the greatest opportunity exists. The output shapes the model we design and the sequencing we recommend.
How does Acquis approach technology selection within a GBS engagement?
Our role in technology selection is to define the right ecosystem for your GBS operating model, evaluate options against your specific operating requirements, and support selection and implementation without a predetermined answer. That includes running structured RFPs to evaluate vendors objectively, facilitating tool selection based on your specific needs, and guiding integration from selection through go-live. Our only measure of the right tool is how well it serves your model.
How does AI factor into GBS design?
AI is reshaping what GBS organizations can absorb, what can be automated, and what the workforce looks like going forward. We help organizations think through the workforce, process, and governance implications of AI as part of the design process, not as an afterthought. The goal is a GBS operating model that is ready to leverage AI capabilities rather than one that requires a redesign when those capabilities arrive.
Ready to get an honest read of your options?
Connect with our team for an objective assessment of where your organization sits on the GBS spectrum and what the right next step looks like for your specific context.