Evolution of UK & Ireland Shared Service Centres from 2000-2015
(Captive/Hybrid excluding BPO)

SSON's global analytics centre (DART) reviewed 15 years of UK & Ireland data to see how Captive/Hybrid SSC landscape has evolved since 2000. The interactive data sets answer these questions & more:

Ireland & England have added the most SSCs, with 2010 being the biggest year of cumulative market growth at 23% YOY. Northern Ireland & Wales began contributing to SSC growth from 2005.

England has the largest number of SSCs (47.1%) then Ireland (27.9%) & Scotland (16.3%). Vertical industry hubs exist e.g. Ireland is home to the vast majority of Technology sector SSCs (77.4%).

Dublin ranks first, housing 19% of all SSCs. The North West of England also scores highly with a total of 8% of all centres being based in Greater Manchester or Cheshire.

Over 60% of SSCs in UK & Ireland service Finance & HR. Notably, England has the most SSCs servicing Finance, HR & Procurement while Ireland & Scotland have the most SSCs servicing IT & other functions.

Marginally more siloed SSCs exist than multi-function. All countries display similar ratios of siloed vs multi-function except England which favours siloed SSCs (home to 31.7%).

73% of multifunction SSCs cover emerging functions beyond Finance, HR, IT & Procurement. Hottest emerging services are Domain specific & Customer Experience. Sales, Marketing & Legal follow closely behind.

In all countries, except Wales, there are more SSCs performing high-value processes than transactional only. Notably, in Ireland the difference is greater with 3x more high-value activity (78% vs 22%).

SSCs in Scotland & Ireland provide a vast range of international languages, significantly more than are serviced by SSCs in England & Wales.

All 5 locations service EMEA. Ireland is the regional "super hub" (only 1.47% domestic). Scotland & N.I. SSCs have heavier domestic focus (50%+). Wales is the only location with no global activity.