A modern SSC in the robotisation era

SSC

Word of admission:

SSC Lions is a new project run by Pro Progressio and focused on the communication support provided to Shared Service Centres. On Outsourcing&More Magazines’pages we will present business cases and interviews with leaders of Shared Services Centres, industry experts and consultants. Our interlocutors will provide the answers to the questions related to best business practises, project management and employer branding.

We are presenting you the interview with Mariusz Pietrzak, Managing Director, PKP Energetyka SSC.

Outsourcing&More: PKP Energetyka is one of the few Polish companies in the public sector that have decided to establish their own Shared Services Centre. Since when have you been running your business and how did it all start?

Mariusz Pietrzak, Managing Director, PKP Energetyka SSC: PKP Energetyka is a private company which belongs to the investment fund CVC Capital Partners. The Shared Services Centre was established in 2016 i.e. one year after the company’s privatisation when the new owner decided to create a capital group and change the company’s operations. It was then that the Shared Services Centre was born by centralising processes from 20 offices. our employees take part in many transformation projects such as the implementation of a new system. This means that a large part of our time is focused on data analysis, building and modelling processes and creating business concepts for new technological solu tions. During this time, we have transferred many new functions – mainly in the area of liquidity management and finance. Robotic process automation has become increasingly common in recent years. Do you also “employ” robots in your Centre?

One of the pillars of the strategy in our company is digitisation and automation. In our centre, we start filment. Of course, we also take into account competences and knowledge of the accounting act, labour law, taxes and finance. Knowledge of SAP and Excel is a big advantage. Your Operations Centre is located in Łódź. How do you view the city of Łódź from the perspective of an investor in the modern business services sector?

The centre has been operating dynamically for over 3 years now and, as you mentioned, it is located in the heart of Poland – in the city of Łódź. We cooperate closely with the Office of Investor Service and get support in many aspects. We take part in many interesting initiatives, such as the Job FULL VERSION OF THIS INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE ONLY IN PAPER EDITION OF OUTSOURCING&MORE MAGAZINEOR ON THE PRO PROGRESSIO WEBSITE.

IN OUR CENTRE, WE STARTED OUR ADVENTURE WITH RPA TECHNOLOGY IN 2018, WHEN WE IMPLEMENTED A PROJECT IN THIS AREA. WITHIN A YEAR WE, LAUNCHED OVER 20 ROBOTS WHICH PROCESS MORE THAN 50,000 TRANSACTIONS PER MONTH.

What processes are carried out within your SSC and how many people are involved in their implementation?

The company provides services for all companies of the PKP Energetyka Capital Group. In our centre, we pro vide services in the field of accounting (liabilities, general ledger, receivables), finance (liquidity management, bank guarantees, payment cards) as well as HR and payroll services. There are 120 people working in the SSC. We also provide support in the scope of digitisation and process automation. Were all these processes intended to be carried out from the very beginning or perhaps your centre has been gradually evolving and increasing its scope of operations? What are the next steps? Are you planning to handle further processes?

After its launch, the centre mainly carried out transactional processes, where the basic requirement was to process documents. Over time, its role has changed to a competence centre where ed our adventure with RPA technology in 2018, when we implemented a project in this area. Within a year we, launched over 20 robots which process more than 50,000 transac tions per month. Our robots have helped us to automate monotonous activities, which has resulted in 15% of the jobs in our centre being robotic workers. They have their own names and are willing to take part in our initiatives and ‘integrate’ with the rest of the team. What positions do you most often recruit employees for and do you need any special qualifications to be employed in the PKP Energetyka Shared Services Centre?

As I mentioned earlier, our centre provides accounting and HR and payroll services. Taking this into account, we most often look for employees in these departments for positions ranging from junior to senior specialists. Our main requirements are the willingness to work, grow and achieve self-fulFair, the ‘Youth in Łódź’ programme or business meetings or conferences. From the investor’s point of view, we evaluate our presence very positively as we have everything needed to deal with business matters.

The final question is a little forward-looking. What will the PKP Energetyka Shared Services Centre be like in the next 3–4 years? Is anything important going to happen in this period?

Looking at market trends and the strategic activities of our group, the centre will continue its transfor mation towards further digitisation and automation of the processes carried out. Its aim will be to improve operational efficiency and provide fast services to our customers. Undoubtedly, this will require constant development of our employees’ competences – a change from process administrator to data analyst.