When building a shared services strategy, it is important to understand where the organization is today and where it wants to be in 2, 5 or 10 years from now. What are the business goals? What technology will your organization need in place to succeed?

Ultimately, the right shared services model helps an organization achieve both its business goals and its technical vision. Choosing a suboptimal model that does not align with the company's long term objectives and requires constant care and feeding will result in greater complexity that increases the total cost of ownership and lowers the overall value of the shared services center. Any further advantages of consolidation and centralization may be lost if the benefits realized by the original shared services initiatives are diluted.