From Cost Center to Value Engine: Steve Rudderham, Ecolab

Many GBS leaders still lead with "we save money," but is that still the right pitch? In this episode, Steve Rudderham, SVP GBS at Ecolab, joins us to talk about the shift from cost center to value engine. Drawing on his experience leading GBS organizations at Carrier, AkzoNobel, Kellogg's, and now Ecolab, Steve explains why "we save money" is the flip-phone version of the conversation, where agentic AI is already moving the needle on revenue and customer outcomes, and his honest take on the "our data isn't ready" excuse. 

In this episode, we cover: 

• What separates a world-class GBS from a transactional service center — and how that shift shows up internally at Ecolab 
• Why automation doesn't have to mean headcount reduction, and what the role of people looks like in an Agentic GBS 
• Accountability in an agentic world: who owns the outcome when AI agents act autonomously, and when "good enough" data is good enough to start 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Think of AI as you know not a productivity tool, but your value multiplier. So you've gone from looking purely at productivity, how many heads can I get out, to how do I multiply the value within there? And you've heard us within ecoab talk about horizontal AI, just not vertical. So that's going across the whole end-to-end process as we referenced earlier as well.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

AI won't politely integrate into your GPS model. It will either transform it or expose its limits. Welcome to GPS Rewired with me, Sally Fletcher, head of thought leadership and community at Hypertest. This podcast is for GPS leaders and no incremental change isn't enough. In each episode, I sit down with the executive of redefining how global business services operate in the age of AI. We challenge the big questions. Is your current GPS model built for automation or autonomy? What does an agentic GPS really look like when AI agents make decisions and not just process facts? Where is AI delivering genuine enterprise values and where is it just hyped? And are today's GPS leaders equipped for what's coming next? If you're ready to move beyond pilots and into real transformation, you're in the right place. GBS Rewired, turning AI ambition into GBS reality. Hello and welcome back to GBS Rewired with me, Sally Fletcher, head of thought leadership and community at Hypertus. So today's guest is Steve Rodderham. He's a global business services executive with deep expertise, leading large-scale GPS and multinational operations organizations around the world. So last week he was in India, now he's in Argentina talking to us. I know you live in the US, you're going to be in Lisbon in a couple of weeks, and you're from Lincoln, so not far from me. So that is really international, the most exotic place on the list. Steve is currently serving as SVP GBS for Ecolab, but previously he led the GBS organizations at Kellogg's, at Carrier, and at Axonobel. So I thought you would be such a good person to kind of get an overview of GBS from. Steve is known for transforming enterprise strategy into high-performing operating models. He's led major initiatives in digital transformation, automation, AI, and operational excellence. And despite his pioneering approach to technology, he's always been very people-first in his approach to GBS and has really focused on building resilient, future-ready teams while driving measurable business impact. He's also a member of the SSON Advisory Board and a member of the GBS Standards Committee, which is helping shape the modern GBS industry landscape. So welcome to the podcast, Steve.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Thank you. Good to be here, Sally.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

So we are going to talk about a few topics, and I was like looking on my list of questions that we discussed before the recording about what is our big theme. And I think what it all boils down to is how are we going beyond cost savings? Like how are we using AI? Um, how are we moving beyond purely being kind of a cost arbitrage play to adding value, which is always such a kind of like hazy term, but there's so much we can do behind it, and we're going to talk about that kind of reality check today. The first question I wanted to ask you, and it refers to kind of my introduction. You know, you are a very connected person. I just published an episode with Barbara and Naomi from SSON RNA. So I said the same to them, but you know, you have led several different high-profile GBS organizations, including Carrier, I mentioned in the intro, Aximobel, Kellogg's, and now Ecolab. Um, what do you think separates a world-class GBS from a transactional service center?

SPEAKER_00 4:13

So I think in its simplest form, a transactional service center is really built to process work more cheaply. Um, that's really the main aim of it. And then if you go kind of the other end of the scale, which is the world-class GBS organization, that is there to create value and enterprise value. And we'll, you know, you'll hear people talking a lot more about how do we, you know, create better value from an organization. So with those kind of two extremes in mind, um, really if you look at two or three things we just want to go through here is if you compare in world class to what I'll call a transactional, you've got value creation versus cost or cost out, should I say. Your operating model is also different as well, in that think of an end-to-end ownership versus in your silos. So we'll talk about order to cash. And in a transactional center, you're just going after collections, where end-to-end, you go, you're starting right at the beginning when you're kind of canvassing uh clients or potential clients out there as well. You mentioned about people, uh, very important talent is you're building capability in a world-class center. And in a transactional, you've just got people who are just task-oriented all the way through. But I think overall, you know, the relationship is a partnership in a world-class um organization versus just a vendor, kind of like you pay my invoices, you collect my cash, go and you know, go off and do it. So I would really put world class, it's an asset center, it's certainly not a cost center.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah, it's a great way of putting it an asset center, not a cost center. Um, and I totally agree the partnership idea is is so key. And I know that GBS have been trying to move from kind of being seen as a servant to the organization to be seeing as an engine behind the business with that potential. So I'm gonna do that awful thing where people quote, um, quote you back to them and ask like a journalist does. But I do read your articles, and um, you know, I've obviously seen you you speak over the years at uh different SSON events. Um, and I've heard you say if your headline is still we save money, you're basically bringing a flip thrown to an iPhone conversation. Indeed, you know, most QBS leadups are still very focused on cost reduction as their North Star, um, as we just discussed. How has Ecolab, um, and you know, please feel free to reference your previous organizations as well, how have they shifted in conversation internally from how do we save money to how do we generate value? Um, and just as a kind of sub-question, how does AI fit in with that story?

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah, absolutely. And that uh that quote usually gets a laugh. I I've usually reference either a flip phone or an Android. Um, so if you're one of those that's got the green text in there, um, it does get a laugh, but it's also a warning. If the most compelling thing that you're offering as a GPS leader is we take cost out, it's really limiting your seat at the table. And we'll go back to we're talking about being an asset and being a partner, and you're really limiting that if you're just saying, I'm gonna save, you know, cost. And if I look at where I am now within Ecolab, this shift to the value story, it didn't suddenly start because you start talking differently. It's actually changing what we did. And AJ and the team have done an absolutely terrific job in changing what we did as a GPS organization, kind of what we owned, what we were responsible for, and then how we measured um success as well. So the language kind of came after the reality. It wasn't speak a good game first. So you also asked about AI as well. And AI is really an accelerant. I wouldn't say it's a strategy, and people often say, kind of, what's your AI strategy? Well, AI is really the accelerant around there. So you stop leading with savings and start thinking about outcomes. So work in the totally opposite way round. The GBS mandate is really to enable, not support. And you hear a lot of GBS leaders saying, well, we support order to cash, we support procurement. It's about enabling the whole organization. And then talent was absolutely the inflection point. We'll keep coming back to talent. Um, I know we like to be diverted towards all the shiny things with AI, but talent was absolutely the inflection point there and you know, driving capability within there. So think of AI as you know, not a productivity tool, but kind of your value multiplier. So you've gone from looking purely at productivity, how many heads can I get out, to how do I multiply the value within there? And you know, you you've heard us within Ecolab talk about horizontal AI, just not vertical. So that's going across the whole end-to-end process as we referenced earlier as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

And when you say multiply value, I imagine that's quite a hard thing to measure. Or does it come in terms of like revenue generated or hours saved? How do you how do you measure value?

SPEAKER_00 9:28

You starting with the outcomes, is what do you actually want to get to? And it's not necessarily just this cost out, you know, back to this transactional center. It's what are your main objectives in the business? And that could be revenue growth, it could be margin growth, it could be new markets, that type of thing, or leveraging an existing customer base that you have, but tie it to those outcomes, not just driving on the productivity piece.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Understood. Thank you. So my third question was around that revenue impact topic. Um, we talked about, you know, cost savings, there's FDE reduction, and a lot of the talk around AI is how to enable these different um KPIs, but there's not a lot of talk around those broader business values. Um, can you share an example where agentic AI or AI generally has moved the needle on revenue or customer outcomes?

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Yeah, absolutely. And the you're right, the conversation does get stuck on how many FTEs can we take out. And to be honest, that's becoming the least interesting um or the most durable that that AI can cover. And if I look at how we're approaching it within Ecolab, is said earlier about end-to-end, looking at the end-to-end approach. And if you take um lead to cash, for example, so you often hear about order to cash, so the order to invoice, the invoice to cash piece. But when you start looking horizontally and bring in everybody from the sales team, the marketing team up front, all the way through supply chain, customer service, and then finally collections at the past, uh in in the back, rather, you'll see that you've got very particular areas where you can start to apply agentic solutions within there. And if I look at what we've been doing, um, just to name two or three, think about customer data. Um, very often in in all the organizations that I've been in, is the sales guys complain that we don't have the right information with the customers. And then customer setup, they've often just put their own email address instead of the customers. That makes it difficult for going back to them on invoices, on their orders, any changes, pricing, all those types of things. So you've now got AI solutions that can really validate your data much better. You get that in place. You can then look at autonomous communication using AI as well, depending on their behaviors. It can start looking at the customer behaviors of new products, of um payments, collections, all of those kind of things. And also using AI within invoices and their orders is again looking at behaviors of customers and what they look for in terms of their discounting, their rebates, pricing, that type of thing. And then really at the end of the process, I would say kind of the traditional order to cash piece, the actual cash applications that's there. We're seeing a lot of um firms coming up with a gentic AI solutions, particularly on that cash apps. And if we all count the number of people in our organization that are actually just applying cash, yes, there's a productivity play within there, but it's also about accuracy and making sure the client is your focus. You're not putting anybody on hold because you haven't got cash apps right. So there's different elements all the way through that end-to-end process, just as an example there with uh with lead to cash.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah, totally. And I think what you said about the customer is so true. You know, a lot of firms, firms I've worked in focus very much on the new business, but making sure that we take care of the customer, repeat customers are more likely to spend more historically, they're more likely to come back, they're easier to work with because you know they know how you work. Um, so there's so much to be done in terms of customer experience, which really does drive long-term impact. Um, I'm a big CX fan. Absolutely. So, a couple more questions. Um I wanted to zoom in on people. You know, we talked about how people are still absolutely critical to the success of GBS. And we've I know you've consistently pushed back on that narrative that automation equals headcount reduction. Um, is that still your perspective today? And what do you think the role of people is in an agentic GBS?

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Yeah, absolutely still my perspective on this. And I'd actually say it's becoming more important to uh to actually push back. And I think back and showing my age a little bit here is when automation first came out. There was a mad panic that it was gonna replace everybody, and that wasn't quite true. And that's the same, really, that we're seeing with a gentic, you know, AI. And the idea that automation is just a straight headcount reduction is just not a complete kind of thought within there. And it's dangerous if you start to think that it's just headcount out all the way. Now, a lot of firms like this narrative of automation or AI equals headcount out because, you know, a lot of it is finance driven, it's simple, it's quantifiable, and finance can put their head around it, you know, 100 FTEs lower or 200 FTEs lower. So what we go back to is this value equation that we spoke about earlier, is that productivity and value are not the same thing. So we've got to make sure that we we separate there. So agentic AI is not going to eliminate the need for people. Think of it as it just changes the kind of work that they do and the kind of work that actually creates the value within there. So it's allowing people, process owners, managers to become more of process owners, judgment advisors, I would say, within there. And we're after kind of their mindset and their judgment, and agentic AI can do there. So you're actually rotating a little bit away. If you think of productivity, it's around the high value, high volume, sorry, transaction execution, um, and almost kind of like your script-based decisioning that you know we've all done for so many years. With agentic AI, it's a different person. It's not necessarily a blank space, it's a different person. It's process ownership, you've got data informed or data-driven judgment that I mentioned a moment ago, and then you'll hear orchestration going across systems, across processes, this true end-to-end, and the teams as well. And it's really about business partnering, really at a high altitude, I would say. It's not that we don't need people, it's that we need fewer people doing this low-leverage work, and we need the people that can they can think, um, they can influence, and it's that judgment that's there. So, yeah, let's be honest. Some roles are gonna disappear. Um, some skills are actually gonna become, I'd say, obsolete. But, you know, automation is not a shrinking exercise, I would say, there. It's we've got to kind of like, yes, you protect the ta the tasks, but it's investing in people's ability to operate at this high level. To me, that's what AI um is all about. So I'll I'll push back and I'll continue to push back on this automation equals headcount reduction because it's you know, to me, it's a failure of ambition. You're not really thinking about outcomes, you're not thinking about um value. And I heard somebody the other day about liberating human capacity, and it is it's like liberating human capacity from that low-value um, you know, work because now we're valuing people as well. We're valuing people's judgment, the relationships matter a lot more, and really outcomes um matter as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Yeah, 100%. And there is actually a lot of work, human work that needs to be done to get ready for AI. Like there's enormous amount of work that needs to be done in terms of like writing the work instructions, tracking the processes, making sure that all of these work instructions are actually ready to be identified, um, as well as getting the data ready and as you said, the global process ownership, the ownership and the governance of the agents. So there is so it's not like you're gonna have one person in a room operating GBS. There is actually so much work to be done to get ready and to own that that space. Um so on that topic, you know, governance and accountability, as AI takes on more autonomous tasks, who owns the outcome when something goes wrong? You know, have you thought about accountability structures in your GBS?

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah, it's it's a great question because you know, autonomy um without clear accountability is you know, is dangerous. Um trust erodes very quickly once you make that mistake. So, you know, the short answer for me is really that AI is never gonna own the outcome. The actual people and the operating models that you set up are the ones that are gonna own it, own the outcome that you've got there. So you've got to design in this accountability so AI can help you move fast without suddenly having to put the brakes on and it being a risk theater and everybody's kind of pointing fingers and the what-ifs and that and that type of thing. But you know, for me, GBS as an organization, if I can just come back from the AI piece a little bit, GBS, GBS plays a really unique role in what I call accountability. And the reason I say that is that, you know, everything flows through GBS in an enterprise. We see the processes end-to-end. Master data is often a part of GBS. It has been within my or my last three or four organizations, day master data has all flowed through. GBS understands, you know, kind of the failure areas cross-functional as well. How many times have we all moaned over a drink at a conference of to upstream issues that are causing us problems? So GBS is the people that can actually standardize the process, but also standardize governance across there. So I would say within GBS is look at the governance of your agents, um your AI agents, AI agents within there, um, your control frameworks as well, um, the audibility as well, and often being within the finance organization, you can bring in, you know, the all um the internal audit teams as well. And then also policy alignment as well. And and this isn't because GBS wants the power, and that's often what people think that it's a power play, but the fragmentation, the siloed approach, which is why going back to kind of like the current situation with Ecolab, and you know, what AJ and the team have done really well is you're looking end-to-end because once you start looking by silo, fragmentation is gonna be your biggest risk, um, you know, with agentics. So you put an agentic into GBS, AI executes, people can then make those decisions, and then your leaders own the outcomes. But governance is gonna be your playing field, and you know, you've got to make sure that is that is absolutely locked and loaded, and GBS can you know play a great part within that.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Yeah, there's a lot of debate as well on whether IT or GBS should own a GenTech. I'm not gonna ask you because you're a GBS leader, so you're not gonna say GBS. Um, but yeah, we're seeing a lot of. I think we did a webinar like a couple of weeks ago with SSON, and still I think 40% of the audience said that they're IT owned AgenTic, which was surprising.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Um But you've got the, you know, I've spoken about outcomes within there, and I think GBS can really help the organization in tying the Agentic AI strategy to outcomes. Your business is going to have those outcomes that it's driving. GBS can then help with that strategy on how it lays in agentic within there. So I think certainly the technology group will be owning the execution and bringing the right tools. But GBS and the business needs to kind of bring those problem statements that need solving within there. So for me, it's absolutely got to be a collaboration.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Yes, definitely. So, last question before I let you go is about knowing when you're ready. So, what's your honest advice? And I can't imagine you'd give anything but your honest advice to a fellow GBS leader who says, we're not ready for AI yet, um, either because our data's not perfect, our processes are not perfect, um, you know, is that a prerequisite or is it sometimes an excuse to delay the inevitable?

SPEAKER_00 22:15

I think speaking to some of my peers, a lot of people wait for perfection within there. And suddenly perfection, if it ever comes, you're gonna be two, three years down the line. Is I would say, you know, start experimenting. Yes, you need trusted data that's within there. You can't do it on data that's you know, you you've got no influence over or you know, you've got no credibility with. So, yes, make sure there's a strong database, but then start going after certain areas. Show success. That builds momentum. So I would say don't wait. Don't wait for that perfect environment. You've got to start experimenting, make sure you've got source data that is trusted, credible, et cetera. But just go for it. Show what GBS can do in creating this value, not just, oh, we've taken three heads out and think we're doing a great job.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Yeah, 100%. Brilliant. Well, I could talk to you all day, but sadly that's all we've got time for. And now you have to get to work. So thanks so much, Steve, for taking the time to join us on GBS Rewired. I've so enjoyed talking to you, and I know our audience will get a lot.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Pleasure. Thanks, Shelly.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Thanks for joining us on GBS Rewired. The future of Global Business Services is being shaped right now by leaders willing to question, experiment, and evolve. If today's conversation is about new ideas, share it with your team or a fellow GBS leader and keep the dialogue going inside your organization. To stay connected on the podcast, join the HyperSist community on LinkedIn or add me personally, Sally Fletcher, and we will continue the conversation, share insights and spotlight and practical examples of AI in action. Subscribe to the show so you don't miss the next episode and join us each fortnight as we explore what's possible when AI and GBS come together with clarity and purpose. GBS Rewired turning AI ambition into GBS reality.