A growing company can reach a point where every department has its own finance processes, administrative tasks, support staff, systems, and ways of getting things done. It works for a while. Then the duplication starts adding up.
A shared services center (SSC) brings many of those repeatable business functions under one centralized team. Instead of separate departments handling the same processes independently, the company can standardize areas like finance, HR, IT, customer support, procurement, and operations through a single shared services model.
For companies expanding across markets or building distributed teams, the location of that center matters too. Some U.S. businesses are looking beyond traditional offshore hubs and exploring outsourcing to Latin America and other nearshore strategies to access skilled professionals while maintaining closer working-hour overlap.
The goal is a simpler operating structure that can scale with the business. In this guide, we’ll break down what a shared services center is, how the model works, which functions belong in one, the benefits and challenges, where to locate it, and how to build a shared services team in 2026.
What Is a Shared Services Center?
A shared services center (SSC) is a centralized team that handles common business processes for multiple departments, locations, or business units within the same company.
Instead of having separate finance, HR, IT, or administrative teams repeat similar work across the organization, a shared services center consolidates those activities into one structure. The goal is to create more consistent processes, clearer ownership, and a more scalable way to support the business.
For example, a company with offices across several regions might have one shared services organization responsible for accounts payable, payroll, recruiting coordination, IT support, and other recurring tasks. Those employees serve different parts of the company while following the same workflows, systems, and service standards.
Shared services can cover anything from routine back-office processes to more specialized functions. Common shared services functions include:
- Finance and accounting
- Human resources
- Recruiting
- IT support
- Procurement
- Customer service
- Sales operations
- Marketing operations
- Data and analytics
- Administrative support
A shared services center can operate from the company's home market, another country, or through a distributed remote team. Some U.S. companies also combine the model with nearshore staffing when they want to centralize functions while accessing talent in nearby regions such as Latin America.
The key idea is centralization: work that used to be duplicated across teams is brought together under a dedicated shared services structure, making it easier to standardize processes and expand support as the company grows.
How Does a Shared Services Center Work?
A shared services center works by moving repeatable business processes into one centralized team that serves multiple departments, offices, or business units.
Instead of each department managing the same tasks independently, the SSC creates standardized workflows, assigns clear ownership, and delivers those services across the organization.
For example, rather than having separate accounts payable teams in five business units, a company could create one shared services team responsible for processing invoices, managing approvals, and handling vendor payments for all five.
Most shared services models rely on a few core elements:
- Centralized teams: Employees are grouped by function instead of being spread across individual departments.
- Standardized processes: The same procedures and systems are used across the organization.
- Defined service levels: Service-level agreements, or SLAs, establish expectations around response times, quality, and delivery.
- Shared technology: Teams often use common ERP, CRM, HR, ticketing, or workflow platforms.
- Performance tracking: Companies monitor metrics such as processing time, accuracy, service quality, productivity, and cost.
- Continuous improvement: As the shared services organization matures, processes can be simplified, automated, or expanded.
The relationship usually works like an internal service provider. A business unit requests support, the shared services team completes the work according to established processes, and both sides follow agreed service standards.
Technology also plays an increasingly important role. Workflow automation, cloud platforms, analytics, and AI tools can help shared services teams reduce manual work and handle larger volumes without adding headcount at the same pace.
Companies with distributed workforces can also combine centralized processes with nearshore staffing, allowing them to build shared services teams in regions that offer strong talent availability and overlapping working hours.
The result is one operating structure supporting many parts of the business, which makes it easier to maintain consistency as the company adds employees, locations, or business units.
What Functions Can a Shared Services Center Handle?
A shared services center can support almost any repeatable business function that serves multiple teams, locations, or business units. The best candidates are usually processes that benefit from standardization, centralized expertise, and consistent service delivery.
The exact structure depends on the company, but these are some of the most common shared services functions:
Finance and Accounting
Finance is one of the most common functions to centralize because many accounting processes follow repeatable workflows. A finance shared services center might handle accounts payable, accounts receivable, bookkeeping, reconciliations, payroll support, and routine reporting.
Companies building these teams can also explore roles such as accountants and bookkeepers when deciding which activities belong in the center.
HR and Recruiting
HR shared services can centralize administrative and coordination-heavy processes across the employee lifecycle. That can include recruiting support, interview scheduling, employee records, payroll administration, and other recurring HR operations.
This structure is particularly useful for companies hiring across multiple departments because one centralized HR team can support consistent processes across the organization.
IT Support
An IT shared services center may provide help desk support, user provisioning, system administration, application support, and routine technical troubleshooting.
Centralizing these services gives employees a common support channel while helping IT leaders create standardized workflows for requests, escalations, and access management.
Sales and Customer Operations
Customer support and sales operations can also fit naturally into the shared services model. Teams may handle customer inquiries, CRM administration, lead routing, sales reporting, quote coordination, and other processes that support revenue-generating departments.
Companies expanding these functions can use a nearshore staffing strategy to build centralized teams in compatible time zones.
Data, Marketing, and Administrative Support
More companies are also moving reporting, analytics, marketing operations, and administrative work into shared services organizations. These functions can support multiple departments without requiring every business unit to build its own dedicated team.
The strongest shared services candidates are usually processes that happen frequently, follow a defined workflow, and need to be delivered consistently across the business. Once those processes are identified, the company can decide which ones make sense to centralize first.
Shared Services Center vs. Outsourcing
Shared services centers and outsourcing can both help companies centralize work and improve efficiency, but they use different operating structures.
With a shared services center, the company typically builds a dedicated internal team that supports multiple departments or business units. With outsourcing, the company contracts an external provider to perform specific functions or processes on its behalf.
Here’s a simple comparison:
The main difference comes down to who owns and operates the function.
For example, a company might create a finance shared services center and hire accountants, accounts payable specialists, and financial analysts to support all of its business units. Those professionals operate as part of the company’s centralized finance structure.
An outsourcing arrangement could involve handing accounts payable processing to a third-party accounting provider instead. The provider supplies the people, processes, and management required to deliver the service.
There can also be overlap between the two models. Some companies operate an internal shared services organization while using external partners for specialized work, additional capacity, or talent acquisition. This is often referred to as a hybrid shared services model.
Companies considering external support can explore outsourcing to Latin America to understand how nearshore talent can fit into a broader operational strategy.
Choosing between shared services and outsourcing depends on how much ownership, control, and internal capability the company wants to maintain. A shared services center can make sense when the organization wants to centralize important functions while keeping them closely integrated with the rest of the business.
Shared Services Center vs. Center of Excellence
A shared services center and a center of excellence can both centralize expertise, but they’re designed for different purposes.
A shared services center focuses on delivering repeatable business processes efficiently across the organization. A center of excellence, or CoE, focuses more on specialized knowledge, standards, innovation, and best practices within a specific discipline.
For example, a finance shared services center might handle invoice processing, reconciliations, and accounts receivable across the company. A finance center of excellence might focus on forecasting, financial modeling, automation, or developing best practices for financial planning.
The two structures can also work together. A company might use its shared services organization to manage everyday processes while a center of excellence develops the tools, standards, and expertise those teams use.
Shared services are built around consistent execution, while centers of excellence are built around specialized capability. Understanding that distinction helps companies decide where different types of work should sit as their operating model grows.
Types of Shared Services Center Models
Companies can structure a shared services center in several ways depending on their size, geographic footprint, internal capabilities, and the functions they want to centralize.
The most common shared services models include:
Captive Shared Services Center
A captive shared services center is fully owned and operated by the company. The business controls the people, processes, technology, and management structure directly.
This model works well for companies that want a high level of control over operations and service delivery while centralizing functions such as finance, HR, IT, or procurement.
Hybrid Shared Services Model
A hybrid model combines an internal shared services team with external partners or distributed talent.
For example, a company might keep process ownership and management in-house while using outside providers for specialized services, additional capacity, or recruitment. This can give the organization more flexibility as its shared services operation grows.
Regional Shared Services Center
A regional SSC supports a specific geographic market, such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, or Latin America.
This model can help companies align teams with local languages, business hours, customer needs, and regional processes. For U.S. companies, a regional center in Latin America can also provide closer time-zone alignment than more distant offshore locations.
Virtual Shared Services Center
A virtual shared services center uses a distributed team rather than concentrating employees in one physical office.
Employees may work remotely across one country or several locations while operating through the same systems, workflows, and performance standards. This approach can expand the available talent pool and reduce the infrastructure required to establish a traditional center.
Companies building distributed teams can also use nearshore staffing to hire professionals who work closely with U.S.-based teams.
Global Business Services
Global business services, or GBS, is a broader operating model that brings several shared services functions under one global structure.
A GBS organization might combine finance, HR, procurement, IT, analytics, and customer operations across multiple regions. The emphasis is usually on integrating services across the business rather than operating separate functional centers.
The right shared services center model depends on the company's priorities. Some organizations start with a single captive or regional center and expand over time, while others use a hybrid or virtual structure from the beginning to access talent across multiple markets.
Benefits of a Shared Services Center
A shared services center can help companies simplify operations as they grow. By moving repeatable processes into one structure, organizations can reduce duplication, improve consistency, and give internal teams clearer ownership over day-to-day support functions.
Some of the main shared services center benefits include:
Lower Operating Costs
Centralizing work can reduce the need for separate teams performing similar tasks across multiple departments or locations.
Companies can also improve cost efficiency by building shared services teams in lower-cost talent markets. For U.S. businesses, nearshore staffing can make it easier to access skilled professionals while keeping teams in overlapping time zones.
More Standardized Processes
When every department follows its own workflow, processes can quickly become inconsistent.
A shared services organization can introduce common procedures, approval paths, systems, and service standards across the business. That consistency can make operations easier to manage as the company expands.
Easier Scalability
A centralized team can support additional departments, employees, or business units without requiring each one to build a separate support function from scratch.
This makes the shared services model particularly useful for companies experiencing rapid growth or expanding into new markets.
Better Visibility Into Operations
Centralized processes make it easier to track performance across the organization.
Shared services teams can monitor metrics such as turnaround time, productivity, accuracy, service quality, and workload from one place, giving leadership a clearer view of operational performance.
Access to Specialized Talent
A shared services center can bring professionals with similar expertise together instead of distributing them across multiple departments.
This can help companies create deeper capability in areas such as accounting, HR operations, IT support, procurement, analytics, and customer operations.
More Consistent Service Delivery
Shared service-level agreements, workflows, and performance metrics help establish clear expectations for how internal services should be delivered.
Employees and business units know where to request support, who owns the process, and what service standards to expect.
Greater Automation Opportunities
Standardized processes are often easier to automate.
Once workflows are centralized, companies can introduce workflow automation, AI tools, self-service platforms, and integrated business systems to reduce repetitive manual tasks and increase capacity.
Less Duplicated Work
One of the biggest advantages of shared services is reducing the number of teams solving the same operational problems independently.
Instead of maintaining separate support structures across departments, companies can consolidate recurring activities and use resources more efficiently.
Ultimately, the value of a shared services center comes from creating a more organized operating model. The strongest results usually come when companies centralize the right processes, establish clear service standards, and build a team that can scale alongside the business.
Common Shared Services Center Challenges
A shared services center can simplify operations, but the transition takes planning. Companies are often changing processes, reporting lines, technology, and responsibilities at the same time, so the biggest challenges usually appear during setup and early expansion.
Choosing the Wrong Processes to Centralize
Some activities are a natural fit for shared services, while others require closer involvement from individual business units.
Highly repeatable processes such as accounts payable, payroll administration, IT support, and recruiting coordination are often easier to standardize. More specialized or highly strategic work may need to remain closer to the teams it supports.
Defining the scope carefully at the beginning can prevent unnecessary complexity later.
Resistance to Process Changes
Departments that are used to managing their own workflows may be reluctant to move responsibilities into a centralized team.
Clear communication is important here. Business units should understand which processes are changing, who will own them, and how the new shared services structure will support their work.
Inconsistent Processes Across Departments
Centralization becomes harder when every business unit handles the same task differently.
Companies may need to simplify and standardize workflows before transferring them into the SSC. Moving several inconsistent processes into one center without redesigning them can simply concentrate the complexity.
Hiring the Right Talent
A shared services organization needs professionals who can work across teams, follow standardized processes, and communicate effectively with internal stakeholders.
Talent availability can therefore influence where companies establish their center. Some U.S. businesses consider Latin America for remote hiring because the region offers professionals across finance, HR, IT, sales operations, customer support, and other shared services functions.
Technology Integration
Shared services teams often depend on multiple platforms, including ERP systems, HR software, CRMs, ticketing tools, and workflow management systems.
If those platforms don't communicate effectively, employees may still spend significant time moving information manually between systems. A clear technology strategy can help companies create smoother workflows as the center grows.
Maintaining Service Quality
Centralizing work shouldn't make internal support feel distant or difficult to access.
Companies need clear service-level agreements, escalation paths, performance metrics, and feedback channels so the shared services team continues meeting the needs of the departments it supports.
Over-Centralization
Centralization can improve efficiency, but moving too much work into the SSC can slow decision-making or separate important activities from the teams that understand them best.
The strongest shared services models usually centralize processes that benefit from consistency while keeping strategic decisions close to the business.
Most shared services center challenges are easier to manage when companies start with a clearly defined scope, standardize processes before scaling, and expand the model gradually based on performance.
Where Should You Build a Shared Services Center?
Choosing where to build a shared services center can have a major impact on hiring, operating costs, communication, and long-term scalability.
The best location depends on the functions moving into the SSC, the skills required, and how closely the team needs to work with the rest of the organization.
Here are the main factors companies should evaluate:
Talent Availability
Start with the workforce.
A location may offer attractive costs, but it still needs enough professionals with the skills required for finance, HR, IT, customer support, operations, analytics, or other shared services functions.
Companies should also consider whether the market has enough talent to support future growth, especially if the shared services center is expected to expand into additional functions over time.
Labor Costs
Employee compensation is often one of the largest operating expenses in a shared services center.
Companies should evaluate salary levels by role and seniority rather than relying only on broad country averages. A location with competitive labor costs can make it easier to build a larger team while keeping the SSC economically sustainable.
Time-Zone Alignment
Working-hour overlap becomes especially important when shared services teams interact frequently with internal stakeholders.
A finance, recruiting, IT support, or sales operations team that works during similar hours can answer questions, resolve issues, and collaborate in real time.
For U.S. companies, this is one reason nearshore staffing can be attractive for shared services operations.
Language Skills
Language requirements depend on who the center supports.
A team serving U.S. employees, customers, or business units may need strong professional English, while a regional shared services center could require bilingual or multilingual professionals.
Companies should evaluate both written and spoken communication skills when hiring for stakeholder-facing roles.
Specialized Skills
Some locations have deeper talent pools in particular areas.
For example, one market may be strong in accounting and finance, while another may have a larger concentration of software, analytics, or customer operations professionals.
The best shared services location should match the capabilities the company plans to centralize.
Infrastructure and Technology
A shared services center relies heavily on reliable internet access, business systems, cybersecurity, communication tools, and cloud platforms.
Companies building remote or virtual SSCs should pay particular attention to connectivity and employees' ability to work securely from distributed locations.
Cultural and Working-Style Alignment
Shared services employees often communicate with several departments every day, so collaboration style matters.
Similar expectations around communication, responsiveness, working hours, and business practices can make it easier for a centralized team to integrate with the wider organization.
Ability to Scale
Companies should also think beyond their first few hires.
A location that works for a 10-person finance team may need to support dozens of professionals across HR, IT, customer support, and operations later.
Looking at talent depth, salary levels, language capabilities, and role availability together can help companies choose a location that supports both the initial launch and future expansion.
For U.S. companies, these criteria have made Latin America an increasingly relevant region for building nearshore and distributed shared services teams. The next section looks at why.
Why Latin America Works for U.S. Shared Services Centers
For U.S. companies, Latin America can be a strong location for a shared services center because it combines talent availability, cost efficiency, and real-time collaboration.
The region is especially relevant for companies building finance, HR, IT, customer support, sales operations, administrative, and data teams that need to stay closely connected to U.S.-based stakeholders.
Strong Time-Zone Alignment
One of Latin America’s biggest advantages is working-hour overlap with the U.S.
Shared services employees often need to answer questions, resolve issues, attend meetings, and coordinate with several departments throughout the day. Having teams online at similar times can make those interactions much easier.
That makes Latin America particularly attractive for companies considering a nearshore staffing model rather than building teams several time zones away.
Access to Skilled Professional Talent
Latin America has large talent pools across many of the functions commonly included in shared services organizations.
Companies can hire professionals in areas such as:
- Accounting and finance
- Recruiting and HR
- Customer support
- IT and software
- Sales operations
- Marketing operations
- Data and analytics
- Administrative support
This gives companies room to expand the scope of the shared services center without moving every new function to a different region.
Competitive Hiring Costs
Labor costs across many Latin American markets can be lower than equivalent U.S. salaries, which can make the economics of building a larger shared services team more attractive.
The exact savings vary by country, role, and seniority, so companies should use role-specific salary benchmarks when planning headcount rather than relying on a single regional average.
Strong English and Bilingual Talent Pools
Many shared services roles require regular communication with U.S. employees, customers, or vendors.
Latin America offers access to professionals with strong English skills, while bilingual Spanish-English talent can also be valuable for companies supporting customers or operations across the Americas.
Easier Real-Time Collaboration
Shared services teams tend to work closely with the departments they support.
A recruiter may need immediate feedback from a hiring manager. An accounts payable specialist may need an invoice approved. An IT support professional may need to troubleshoot an issue while the employee is online.
Closer working hours make those interactions easier to handle in real time, helping the shared services center feel integrated with the rest of the company.
Access to Multiple Talent Markets
Latin America also gives companies flexibility when deciding where to hire.
Rather than depending on a single city or country, businesses can build distributed shared services teams across markets such as Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and other parts of the region.
Companies exploring this approach can read more about outsourcing to Latin America without turning the shared services strategy itself into a country-by-country comparison.
For U.S. companies, Latin America can support the two things a shared services center needs most: scalable talent and close collaboration with the business. Once the location strategy is clear, the next step is deciding how to build the center itself.
How to Build a Shared Services Center
Building a shared services center starts with deciding what the center should accomplish and which processes make sense to centralize. From there, companies can design the operating model, choose a location, hire the right team, and establish systems that support future growth.
Here’s a practical shared services center implementation process.
1. Identify the Processes You Want to Centralize
Start by looking across departments for activities that are repeated frequently or handled differently by multiple teams.
Good candidates often include invoice processing, payroll administration, recruiting coordination, IT support, reporting, CRM administration, procurement support, and customer service.
Look for processes with high volume, clear workflows, and recurring demand. These are often easier to standardize and move into a centralized services model.
2. Define the Scope of the Shared Services Center
Decide exactly what the SSC will own.
For example, a finance shared services center might initially handle accounts payable and accounts receivable before expanding into reconciliations, payroll support, and financial reporting.
Defining the scope early gives business units clear expectations and helps leadership estimate the people, technology, and resources required.
3. Choose the Right Operating Model
Next, decide how the center will be structured.
Companies can create a captive SSC, regional center, virtual shared services center, hybrid model, or broader global business services organization.
The right choice depends on factors such as how much control the company wants, where its employees are located, and how quickly the center needs to scale.
4. Select the Location
Location influences salary costs, talent availability, time-zone coverage, language skills, and collaboration.
Companies should evaluate potential locations based on the roles they plan to hire rather than choosing a market based on labor costs alone.
For a U.S. company, for example, building a shared services team in Latin America can provide significant working-hour overlap while opening access to professional talent across several markets.
5. Determine Which Roles You Need
Turn the list of centralized processes into an initial hiring plan.
If the SSC begins with finance operations, the first hires might include accountants, accounts payable specialists, accounts receivable specialists, or financial analysts. A broader operation could also require recruiters, IT support specialists, customer support representatives, data analysts, or sales operations professionals.
Companies can explore different remote roles in Latin America to understand which positions could fit into each shared services function.
Start with the roles required to deliver the initial scope successfully, then add specialists as demand grows.
6. Standardize Workflows and Responsibilities
Before transferring work into the center, document how each process should operate.
Define:
- Who owns each task
- How requests enter the shared services team
- Which systems employees should use
- When approvals are required
- How issues are escalated
- What completion looks like
Clear workflows make training easier and help employees deliver services consistently across different business units.
7. Establish KPIs and Service Expectations
A shared services center needs measurable expectations from the beginning.
Common shared services KPIs can include:
- Turnaround time
- Cost per transaction
- Processing accuracy
- Request resolution time
- Productivity
- Service-level agreement compliance
- Internal customer satisfaction
Choose metrics that reflect the actual purpose of each function. A smaller set of useful KPIs is usually more valuable than tracking every available data point.
8. Put the Right Technology in Place
The technology stack should support standardized workflows and give teams visibility into requests and performance.
Depending on the functions involved, that might include ERP software, HR platforms, CRMs, help desk systems, workflow tools, communication platforms, and business intelligence software.
Companies can also introduce automation gradually as processes become standardized and the team identifies repetitive manual work.
9. Launch With a Manageable Scope
A company doesn't need to move every support function into shared services at once.
Starting with a defined group of processes gives leadership an opportunity to test workflows, measure performance, identify bottlenecks, and improve the shared services operating model before expanding it.
For example, a company could begin with finance administration and later add HR, IT, customer operations, and analytics.
10. Expand the Center as Demand Grows
Once the initial model is working, the organization can add processes, functions, locations, and employees.
Headcount planning should account for workload, expected growth, skill requirements, and compensation. South's Latin American salary guide can help U.S. companies estimate salary ranges when planning shared services hiring across the region.
A successful SSC is usually built in stages. Start with clear processes and a focused team, measure how well the model is working, and expand the shared services organization as the business creates demand for additional support.
What Roles Do You Need in a Shared Services Center?
The roles you need in a shared services center depend on the functions you're centralizing. A finance-focused SSC will look very different from one built around IT, customer operations, or HR.
Start with the work the center needs to handle, then build the team around those processes.
Here are some common shared services center roles by function:
Finance and Accounting Roles
Finance is often one of the first functions companies move into shared services because many processes are recurring and easy to standardize.
An SSC might hire accountants, staff accountants, bookkeepers, accounts payable specialists, and financial analysts to support activities such as reconciliations, invoicing, reporting, and transaction processing.
The right mix depends on how much of the finance function the center will own. A company centralizing only transactional work may need mostly accounting support roles, while a more mature SSC may add analysts and specialized finance professionals.
HR and Recruiting Roles
HR shared services teams can support recruiting, payroll administration, employee records, interview scheduling, and other recurring people operations processes.
Typical roles include recruiters, talent acquisition specialists, recruitment coordinators, payroll specialists, and HR administrators.
These employees often work with managers across several departments, so communication skills and the ability to follow standardized processes are especially important.
IT Roles
An IT shared services team might include help desk specialists, systems administrators, application support specialists, and IT support professionals.
Their responsibilities can range from password resets and user provisioning to troubleshooting systems, maintaining business applications, and managing internal support requests.
The size and seniority of the team will depend on how technical the services are and whether the SSC handles frontline support or more complex infrastructure and application work.
Customer Support and Customer Success Roles
Customer-facing operations are another common area for centralized teams.
A company might hire customer support representatives, customer success representatives, technical support specialists, or support managers to serve customers across several products or business units.
For these roles, working-hour coverage can be especially important because teams may need to respond to customers and coordinate with U.S.-based colleagues throughout the business day.
Sales and Revenue Operations Roles
Shared services can also support revenue teams behind the scenes.
Sales assistants, CRM specialists, sales operations professionals, quote coordinators, and reporting specialists can centralize tasks such as CRM maintenance, lead routing, pipeline reporting, quoting, and sales administration.
This allows salespeople to spend more time on customer-facing activities while recurring operational work sits with a dedicated team.
Data and Analytics Roles
As shared services organizations become more sophisticated, many add centralized reporting and analytics capabilities.
Data analysts, BI analysts, reporting specialists, and data engineers can create dashboards, maintain datasets, analyze operational performance, and provide reporting across several departments.
Centralizing these roles can also help companies establish more consistent reporting standards and data definitions across the organization.
Administrative and Operations Roles
Administrative work can also be centralized, particularly when multiple departments need similar support.
Executive assistants, administrative assistants, data entry specialists, and operations coordinators can handle scheduling, documentation, database updates, reporting support, and recurring operational tasks.
You don't need every role from day one. A new shared services center might begin with a small finance or operations team and add HR, IT, customer support, or analytics professionals as the scope expands.
The goal is to build the team around the services the SSC actually delivers rather than creating a large organizational structure upfront.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Shared Services Center?
The cost of building a shared services center can vary significantly depending on where the team is located, how many employees you hire, which functions you centralize, and whether the center is physical, virtual, or hybrid.
For most companies, labor is the largest ongoing cost, but technology, recruitment, management, training, and infrastructure also need to be included in the budget.
Here are the main shared services center cost categories:
Employee Salaries
Compensation is usually the biggest variable in the shared services center budget.
Costs depend on the role, seniority, location, and level of specialization required. An accounts payable specialist, for example, will have a different salary range from a data engineer or systems administrator.
Companies building teams in Latin America can use salary benchmarks to estimate compensation by role and market before setting the hiring budget.
Recruiting and Hiring
Hiring costs should also be factored into the initial setup.
A new SSC may require several hires within a relatively short period, which can create additional workload for internal recruiters. Companies may use their own recruiting team, outside recruiters, or a nearshore staffing partner to help build the initial workforce.
Technology and Software
Shared services centers rely on technology to manage requests, standardize workflows, track performance, and communicate across departments.
Common investments can include:
- ERP systems
- CRM platforms
- HR software
- Help desk tools
- Workflow automation
- Business intelligence platforms
- Communication and project management software
Companies should look at both licensing costs and the effort required to integrate systems across the organization.
Management and Leadership
As the SSC grows, companies may need functional managers, team leads, operations managers, or a shared services leader.
These roles help maintain service standards, manage capacity, monitor KPIs, and coordinate with the business units the center supports.
A very small shared services team may initially report into an existing finance, HR, or operations leader before dedicated management positions are added.
Training and Process Documentation
Employees need clear processes before they can deliver consistent services across several departments.
That means the setup budget should account for onboarding, systems training, standard operating procedures, documentation, and knowledge transfer from existing teams.
The clearer the processes are before the transition, the easier it is to scale the center later.
Infrastructure
A traditional shared services center may require office space, equipment, networking, facilities, and local support.
A virtual SSC can reduce many of those infrastructure costs because employees work remotely using centralized cloud systems. However, companies still need to budget for equipment, cybersecurity, software, and secure access.
Location Can Change the Cost Significantly
Where the center is built can have a major effect on the overall budget.
A U.S.-based shared services team may offer maximum geographic proximity but come with higher salary costs. Offshore locations may offer lower labor costs but create larger time-zone differences.
Nearshore locations can provide another option. U.S. companies building shared services teams in Latin America can access professional talent at competitive salary levels while maintaining substantial working-hour overlap.
Rather than focusing only on the lowest possible cost, companies should evaluate total operating cost alongside talent quality, collaboration, scalability, and service requirements.
The most useful approach is to build the budget from the bottom up: define the processes, identify the required roles, estimate headcount and salaries, add technology and management expenses, and then evaluate how the model changes across different locations.
When Does a Shared Services Center Make Sense?
A shared services center usually makes the most sense when a company has reached the point where multiple teams are performing similar operational work and a more centralized structure could improve efficiency.
That often happens as organizations add locations, business units, departments, or support functions.
A shared services model may be worth considering if your company:
- Has multiple teams performing the same administrative or operational processes
- Is experiencing rapid headcount or geographic growth
- Wants more consistent workflows across departments
- Needs better visibility into service levels and operational performance
- Is spending too much on duplicated support functions
- Has enough recurring work to justify a dedicated centralized team
- Wants to standardize processes before introducing more automation
- Needs access to specialized talent across finance, HR, IT, operations, or customer support
You Have Duplicate Processes Across Teams
One of the clearest signals is duplication.
If several departments maintain their own invoicing processes, recruiting coordinators, reporting workflows, or support teams, centralization may reduce unnecessary overlap.
Bringing those activities together can create clearer ownership and more consistent execution across the business.
Your Company Is Scaling Quickly
Growth often makes decentralized support models harder to maintain.
As new employees, departments, and locations are added, companies may find themselves recreating the same operational functions repeatedly. A shared services organization can provide a common support structure that grows alongside the business.
Processes Are Becoming Inconsistent
Different departments may develop their own tools, approval paths, templates, and ways of completing the same task.
That can make reporting, training, automation, and performance management harder.
A shared services center can help create common processes and service standards across the organization.
You Need Better Operational Visibility
Centralization can also make performance easier to measure.
When work is handled through one shared services team, leadership can track metrics such as turnaround times, workloads, processing accuracy, service levels, and cost more consistently.
You Have Enough Volume to Support a Dedicated Team
An SSC also needs sufficient recurring work.
A small company with only occasional support needs may gain little from creating a formal shared services structure. As transaction volumes and support requests increase, however, a centralized team can become more practical.
You Want to Scale Without Rebuilding Every Support Function
Companies expanding into new markets or adding business units may want to avoid creating separate finance, HR, IT, or administrative teams every time they grow.
A shared services center provides one foundation that can support several parts of the organization, making it easier to add capacity without redesigning the operating model each time.
Ultimately, an SSC makes the most sense when centralization solves a real operational problem. The goal shouldn't be to create another organizational layer. It should be to make recurring business services easier to deliver, measure, and scale.
Build Your Shared Services Team in Latin America With South
Once you've decided which processes belong in your shared services center, the next step is building the team that will run them.
For U.S. companies, Latin America can offer access to professionals across finance, HR, IT, customer support, sales operations, data, and administrative functions while keeping teams aligned with U.S. working hours.
South helps companies find remote talent in Latin America for the roles that support shared services operations. That can include accountants, recruiters, payroll specialists, customer support representatives, data analysts, sales operations professionals, IT specialists, and other positions based on the scope of your SSC.
You can build the team around the functions you actually need, rather than forcing your shared services strategy into a fixed staffing model.
South also provides salary benchmarking, pre-vetted candidates, and hiring support across Latin America, helping companies evaluate talent based on experience, English proficiency, role fit, and time-zone alignment.
Whether you're starting with a small finance or operations team or expanding an existing shared services organization across several functions, the goal is the same: build a centralized team that can support the business as it grows.
Schedule a free call and find remote talent in Latin America with South.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the purpose of a shared services center?
The purpose of a shared services center is to centralize recurring business processes so multiple departments, locations, or business units can use the same team, systems, and workflows. This can improve consistency, reduce duplicated work, and make support functions easier to scale.
What are examples of shared services?
Common shared services include accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll administration, recruiting coordination, IT support, procurement, customer service, sales operations, reporting, and administrative support.
What is the difference between a shared services center and outsourcing?
A shared services center is typically a centralized team dedicated to the company, while outsourcing involves hiring an external provider to perform specific services or processes. Companies can also combine both approaches through a hybrid shared services model.
What is the difference between SSC and GBS?
A shared services center, or SSC, usually centralizes specific operational functions such as finance, HR, or IT. Global business services, or GBS, is a broader model that can combine multiple shared services functions, regions, technologies, and process-improvement initiatives under one global operating structure.
What is a finance shared services center?
A finance shared services center centralizes recurring finance and accounting activities for multiple parts of a company. It may handle processes such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, reconciliations, payroll support, financial reporting, and transaction processing.
Which departments are best suited for shared services?
Functions with repeatable, high-volume, and standardized processes are often the strongest candidates. Finance, HR, IT, procurement, customer support, sales operations, data, and administrative services are commonly included in shared services organizations.
Can a shared services center be remote?
Yes. A virtual shared services center can operate with employees working remotely across one or several locations while using the same systems, workflows, KPIs, and service standards.
Where are shared services centers usually located?
Companies often choose shared services locations based on talent availability, salaries, language skills, infrastructure, time-zone coverage, and the ability to scale. U.S. companies may consider Latin America when they want access to skilled professionals with significant working-hour overlap.
How long does it take to build a shared services center?
The timeline depends on the size and complexity of the operation. A focused SSC built around a few standardized processes may be established relatively quickly, while a large multi-function shared services organization can require a longer transition involving process redesign, technology integration, hiring, and knowledge transfer.
What roles are typically hired for a shared services center?
Common shared services center roles include accountants, accounts payable specialists, recruiters, payroll specialists, IT support professionals, customer support representatives, sales operations specialists, data analysts, and administrative professionals. The exact team depends on which functions the center will support.
