Case Study
Leading Marine Services Group Operating One of the Pacific’s Largest Coastal Tug and Barge Fleets Implements Standalone Shared Services to Improve Service and Profitability
20%
Shared Services Cost-to-Revenue Reduction
Strategic Imperative
To develop and implement Shared Services as a standalone organization that dramatically improves service levels for internal operating companies while reducing shared-services cost as a percentage of revenue by 20%
Client Background
- Marine services business within a $5.5B privately owned transportation group employing approximately 8,800 people
- Five years of negative EBIT performance created urgency to improve service economics and business profitability
- Operating companies deploy one of the Pacific’s largest coastal tug and barge fleets across demanding marine environments
- Shared Services supported Accounting/Finance, HR, IT, HSE, and Legal across operating companies
- Operating companies historically acquired and managed core support independently, creating fragmented service delivery and cost structures
- Recent acquisitions increased organizational complexity and the need for scalable, standardized internal support
Key Issues & Barriers
- Leadership lacked urgency and consensus on changes required to restore financial performance across the marine business
- Organization relied heavily on acquisition-driven revenue growth instead of upgrading underlying business and operating models
- Performance management knowledge was limited across metrics, reporting, service evaluation, and continuous improvement
- Service-level expectations and performance requirements were not clearly defined between Shared Services and operating companies
- HR and Legal leaders were assigned service-level agreement and performance-reporting design without prior implementation experience
- Day-to-day operating demands and recent acquisitions delayed action on required Shared Services upgrades
Key Implementation Components
- Designed and implemented service expectations and requirements across all five Shared Services functional areas
- Insourced all targeted support activities to strengthen control, accountability, and service consistency across Shared Services
- Developed and implemented Partnership Compliance agreements defining mutual obligations between Shared Services and operating companies
- Defined performance measures for each internal business relationship and functional service area
- Implemented operating reports and mechanisms to manage performance against agreed internal requirements
- Established continuous improvement meetings to address service variances and strengthen communication across the organization
Benefits & Results
20%
Shared Services Cost-to-Revenue Reduction
100%
Partnership Compliance Attainment
31%
Shared Services Request Cycle Time Reduction