You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough

Shared Services —-> Center of Excellence —->. Global Capability Center.

Before the mind dives into metrics, before we dissect frameworks or analyze ROI, just feel the progression of these terms.

Shared Services came first.

Not because it was a mere cost saving tactic. Not because it was mandated by a board meeting. But because that’s how efficiency started, like a foundation laid brick by brick. Like order before innovation.

In these stages is a remembrance, of a time when operational support was more than just a back office function, it was a unifying rhythm. A time when shared services were not just about consolidating tasks, but about pooling expertise and resources. Like the soil that nourishes a growing tree. Like the heartbeat before a pulse quickens.

The modern enterprise, with all its digital transformations and rapid scaling, often loses sight of this organic evolution. We rebrand and reposition. We shift from mere support to strategic prowess. We call it a Center of Excellence because we’ve built a world that values specialization, creativity, and relentless improvement.

But the core will always remain.

Remember that the shared services model was where collaboration began. That the Center of Excellence wasn’t just a rebranding of operational efficiency, but the starting point of strategic innovation. That the global capability center didn’t emerge in isolation, it evolved from a persistent desire to transform support into competitive advantage.

There is no need for constant justification. Just the quiet truth of evolution, a journey from consolidation to innovation. A transition from doing things right to doing the right things. The shared service was the catalyst, the center of excellence is the refining process and the global capability center is the realization of potential on a worldwide scale.

Many of us have been taught to see efficiency as the pinnacle. Yet within every organization, there lies an inherent evolution, from shared services to excellence, from efficiency to innovation. To honor this evolution isn’t to simply chase trends, it’s to come home to the essence of growth.

So the next time you outline your organization’s roadmap, pause and feel the progression. Recognize that every stage, every title, reflects a natural order of development. Remember that the journey from shared services to global capability wasn’t just constructed, it was always there, waiting to be realized.