Radford, Georgia, Shared, Services

Unleashing the power of place: interview with Georgia Pacific's Gil Radford

01 Sep 2003 | (Interview)

Gil Radford is the Director of the European Shared Services Centre of Georgia Pacific (formerly Fort James Europe Limited). He is responsible for managing the centre, where financial reporting and other accounting transactional processes are centralized. Since the start-up of his operation in mid-1998, Gil has successfully migrated eight countries with service activities encompassing cross-border supplier invoice processing and payment, general ledger accounting, reporting and consolidation - and more recently credit control & accounts receivables management for the UK.

Gil has been recognised as a distinguished leader in the shared services profession and he has spoken at several conferences and written an article for Shared Services News. He currently co-chairs the European Shared Services Council for the Conference Board (Europe) and is Chairman of the Shared Services Executives Forum in the Northwest of England. Prior to his current position, Gil was the European Director of Internal Audit for Fort James based in Brussels, Belgium. He has over 25 years’ experience in the field of accounting and auditing and has considerable international business experience. He has held a variety of positions with Johnson & Johnson, KPMG and the New Jersey Department of Transportation. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Institute of Internal Auditors, and is also a member of the AICPA, the Institute of Management Accountants, and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, who presented him with the Outstanding Member in Industry Award for his leadership in the Accounting Profession. Gil is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and currently resides in Manchester, United Kingdom with his family.

sharedxpertise.org: Can you tell us about your choice of a location and explain how the business case for Manchester played out?

Gil Radford: When we chose Manchester for our centre, our business case focused on our desire to build on a “greenfield” as opposed to a “brownfield” site. At the same time, we wanted to be close enough to one of our major business units so that we could leverage support services such as legal and HR. The real focus on choosing Manchester was based on the availability of a professional workforce, cost (both in terms of labour and real estate) and the language capabilities of potential staff. sharedxpertise.org: Do you believe that local government initiatives can help unleash the attraction of a particular location and turn it into a “rising star”?

“When we chose Manchester for our centre, our business case focused on our desire to build on a ‘greenfield’ as opposed to a ‘brownfield’ site. The real focus on choosing Manchester was based on the availability of a professional workforce, cost (both in terms of labour and real estate) and the language capabilities of potential staff”.

Gil Radford: I think it’s always beneficial to have government incentive programmes because they attract business to the area and at the same time help offset operating costs of the shared services centre. For many centres, the majority of operating costs are around people (salaries) and any incentives you can obtain (such as training subsidies and employment grants) can help support your internal HR and training needs. Regarding tax structures, this was not a primary driver behind our location decision but it was a factor that we evaluated and thoroughly researched.

sharedxpertise.org: Most organizations still prefer to co-locate with existing business units, but at the same time several surveys have indicated that organizations with "greenfield” sites are more likely to perceive their operations as successful. Why do you think this is so?

Gil Radford: Many shared services centres want to establish their own culture - one that’s independent of an existing business culture. I believe a shared services centre needs to be very professional and focused on service delivery.

In order to establish such a culture, you need to start with a clean slate, which isn’t slanted towards any pre-existing behaviours or standards. From our own experiences, we have enjoyed building our own value statement and focusing on our internal customer service needs.

sharedxpertise.org: The hunt for new shared services locations is fierce and competitive and many organizations are beginning to look at previously neglected locations. What has your experience taught you and your organization about the location of shared services centres? If you were looking at setting up further centres elsewhere, what are the hot spots that you’d be investigating now?

Gil Radford: I’d still base location choice on availability of professionals in the market place, language skills, cultural knowledge about business practices and cost. However, a lot also depends on the organization’s general business strategy and what they’re trying to achieve.

If I were to evaluate our business today in terms of location, there’s a high probability that Manchester would still come into play, provided that the salary market was still in line with our business case evaluation, and there was an adequate supply of European nationals with business experience in the market place. Having said that, I believe these characteristics are becoming difficult to achieve for many prospect cities that are also located on the mainland of Europe.

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