From Captive to Competitive: Redefining Global Business Services
In this episode of SSO Next, host Heather King speaks with Turan Sahin, CEO of Allianz Services, about his journey building one of the world's leading Global Business Services (GBS) organizations from the ground up. Reflecting on his seven-year tenure, Sahin shares how he challenged early skepticism around captive shared services by focusing on market-driven performance rather than mandates. By prioritizing cost, quality, customer experience, and trust, he positioned Allianz Services as a competitive, world-class provider that business units actively choose to partner with.
A central theme of the conversation is the shift from traditional, transactional shared services to high-value, end-to-end capabilities embedded within the core business. Sahin explains how Allianz Services deliberately moved up the value chain, focusing on complex, skill-intensive work and leveraging global talent to drive real business impact. By aligning closely with customer outcomes and measuring success through end-customer satisfaction, the organization has positioned itself not just as a service provider, but as a strategic partner and transformation engine.
15 Dec 2025
The AI-Driven C-Suite
In this episode of SSO Next, hosted by Sally Fletcher, Global Managing Editor at SSON, we continue the conversation on one of today's most pressing leadership topics: AI in the enterprise. This episode turns the spotlight to the C-suite and explores what it truly means to lead in an AI-driven world.
Our guest, Ansgar Thiessen, Head of Global Central Operations at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, discusses how artificial intelligence is transforming the skills, mindsets, and expectations of future leaders. Exploring how the rapid pace of innovation is altering decision-making and strategic planning, how organizations can handle change fatigue during ongoing digital transformation, and what effective AI leadership looks like in practice.
Drawing on his hands-on experience implementing AI within Swiss Re GBS, Ansgar shares real-world insights into scaling digital, data, and GBS capabilities across a global operation.
A must-listen for executives and shared services leaders navigating the realities of AI, transformation, and modern leadership in the C-suite.
If you enjoy this episode and want to hear more from Ansgar, you can register free of charge to our webinar series, AI for Global Business Services, where Ansgar is a keynote speaker.
10 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
The Great AI Debate: Point vs. Platform, Buy vs. Build
AI is something that is truly transforming global business services, in particular Agentic AI, and there is an incredible amount of discussion around the right and wrong way to use it and implement it within GBS.
Two of the topics we hear the most questions about at SSON are regarding buy vs. build and platform vs. point solutions. There is a lot of information online regarding this topic, but it can often be biased, dependent on whether it's written by a vendor and exactly what their solution is. Therefore, SSON invited AI expert Doug Shannon onto the Podcast to give his seasoned perspective.
Doug is a Visionary Leader in Intelligent Automation and AI. He is a pioneer in driving innovation, operational excellence, and strategic vision across global organizations. Recognized among the Top 50 Intelligent Automation Leaders and twice awarded as a Top 25 Thought Leader in this space.
During this episode Doug and I discuss the following resources:
SSON Research & Analytics (https://www.sson-analytics.com/) State of the Industry Report, of which you can find a copy here.
Shared Services & Outsourcing Week North America
Doug's newsletter Brewing Insights.
Inside a recent episode
From Captive to Competitive: Redefining Global Business Services
Published 25 Mar 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Just to give you an example, skill arbitrage. So in many markets, Business has difficulty to fill in the jobs to find the right skill sets. Having a GBS is a global footprint. I have access to the global talent pool, while if you would only operate in one country, you have access to the domestic pool. […]
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