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Top 10 Insights from Hackett's 2009 Shared Services Study

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This ivory tower comic from Abstruse Goose cracks me up:

As this comic illustrates, the term Ivory Tower designates a world where intellectuals engage in esoteric, over-specialized, or even useless research that is disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday life (ref. Wikipedia).

Contrast this to "empirical."  Here's the definition from dictionary.com:

em·pir·i·cal (ěm-pîr'ĭ-kəl) adj.

1. Relying on or derived from observation or experiment: empirical results that supported the hypothesis.
2. Verifiable or provable by means of observation or experiment: empirical laws.
3. Guided by practical experience and not theory.

When it comes to "research," it's important to distinguish between "ivory tower" research and empirical research.

This is precisely why I am a big fan of The Hackett Group's research  ... it is derived from experiment and observation rather than theory.

They have strong roots in benchmarking so they know how to collect vast amounts of data, analyze that data and then draw the proper conclusions and insights from that data.

This is especially important when it comes to emotionally-charged topics such as offshoring, shared services and outsourcing. To make sound business decisions, executives need to understand the facts ... not ivory tower theories.

Which brings me to our our upcoming webcast on Shared Services where we are going to present 10 fascinating insights from Hackett's 2009 Shared Services Performance Study.  I guarantee that you will be surprised by some of the fact-based conclusions!

Please join The Hackett Group' Penny S. Weller, PhD, CMA, Senior Business Advisor, as she reveals the Top 10 insights:

#1     Shared services have reduced costs by exactly how much?

#2     Does anything else matter besides costs?

#3     What is the fastest growing driver for shared services?

#4     Reaching "Beyond the Transaction" to what else?

#5     How are "economies of skill" being leveraged?

#6     How does outsourcing fit into the picture?

#7     What 2 trends both drive and are supported by shared services?

#8     What will soon become rule rather than the exception?

#9     How important is talent?

#10  What are the globalization trends?

-Rakesh Shukla