GBS doesn’t have the full picture, but the CIO has!

The CIO and GBS leader from Ball Corporation discuss their unique organizational setup that unlocks synergy between business and IT to achieve business outcomes. In this podcast, they share the importance of citizen developers, RPA governance, and GBS involvement in IT decisions.

Unique Organizational Setup

Ball Corporation has a unique organizational setup where the Global Business Services (GBS), data services, and technology are all combined under a single umbrella. This allows the company to effectively address business needs and prioritize demand across all business functions. The GBS team closely collaborates with IT to focus on incremental improvements rather than large-scale transformations.

RPA to Generative AI and Citizen Developers

RPA in GBS started as a centre of excellence, focusing on establishing governance structures and saving manual work through automation. It saved costs and served functions like HR and finance. However, as the value and potential grew, it was transitioned to the IT team. In the coming months, the company plans to explore applications of Generative AI for business. It also plans to create citizen developers to accelerate technology adoption across business functions.

GBS Authority on IT Decisions

At Ball Corp., GBS owns processes, data, technology, and services. It uses an annual operating plan for a high-level investment strategy and regularly collaborates with its functional counterparts monthly. An annual roadmap exercise is conducted to ensure alignment and effective resource allocation, considering investment requests at global, regional, and lifecycle levels. By involving key stakeholders and following a structured approach, GBS takes ownership of shaping the investment strategy and driving impactful decisions.

ERP v/s Best of the Breed

ERPs and large enterprise solutions are potentially at risk of becoming obsolete. The future belongs to fit-for-purpose applications and low-code/no-code platforms that allow organizations to develop purpose-built applications – avoiding the need to rely on costly solutions. Migrating custom codes into a software extensibility framework and focusing on clean cores is critical for achieving more flexibility and cost-effectiveness as compared to traditional ERP systems.