Future of Corporate Services

Shifting the focus from functional objectives to broader, enterprise goals – and measuring its contribution to value creation and risk management – can help raise the Corporate Services profile and build trust among leadership.

Almost two-thirds of survey respondents believe alignment between Corporate Services goals and those of the enterprise “only meets expectations.” Yet, the survey suggests that leaders are in favor of a collective approach to value across functions – even if they haven’t worked out how to achieve this.

Corporate Services are the natural custodians of data. Yet, the group function is not set up to share timely data, let alone use data to deliver actionable insights. At a time when strategic decision-making demands upon the fast flow and seamless access to data, this can hold companies back.

Only one in 10 survey respondents rating their organization’s digital maturity as “high.” KPMG professionals suggest Corporate Services streamline data products and resources (i.e., technology, people or processes) to support business and value streams.

Generative AI can profoundly reshape Corporate Services. But it will only reach its potential when paired with human expertise and ingenuity.

In the survey, over one-third of respondents say their organization should apply Gen AI rather than reorganize their functions. The move, they anticipate, will increase their value to the organization by seven to 10 percent. 

The survey shows that Corporate Services’ functional executives are more included to seek improvements within the current, siloed model rather than look for a more connected way forward.

To shift this thinking, Corporate Services’ leaders – and their teams – should be incentivized to break down inter-functional boundaries, collaborate with other functions and align their goals with those of the wider business.