ALL IN.
ALL TOGETHER.

With all the challenges and disruptions affecting us these days, it would be easy to overlook a significant — and positive — change that happened April 1: the introduction of Koch Global Services Group.

KGS is the new name for the shared services teams that have been known by at least a dozen acronyms over the years, including KBS (for Koch Business Solutions, formed in 2001).

“This is about what’s next — about helping to further transformation for all of Koch,” said Richard Swan, president of KBS since 2013. During a global Teams meeting with coworkers on April 1, Swan emphasized the need for KGS employees to be “All In,” and “All Together.”

“‘All In,’ means that we not only understand our Vision and strategies but are fully committed to implementing them. The ‘All Together’ reminds us we must become a global team with no more silos, working as one organization together with our preferred partners, whoever or wherever they may be.” (Swan notes that the colors of all Koch companies were used for the banner “All In. All Together.”)

KGS’s Vision calls for innovating and transforming the consumer experience by using technology and other solutions in ways that enable Koch companies to create value. By working all together, KGS’s goal is to provide a global shared services and business solutions capability that can help eliminate waste and create value worth billions of dollars.

A HISTORY OF TRANSFORMATION

“Twenty years ago,” Swan noted, “there were less than 200 employees in this capability, with a more limited scope of services offered, and all of them based in Wichita. They served an organization that was less than one-sixth the size of today’s Koch Industries.”

Twelve years ago, KBS launched an effort to bring together the infrastructure teams for FHR, KII Human Resources, and the newly acquired INVISTA and Georgia-Pacific teams. In 2013, the year Koch acquired Molex, KBS began establishing sites in Europe and Asia. 

“Today,” Swan said, “we have 1,800 employees in 20 countries supporting a global workforce of 130,000 employees in more than 70 countries. All these acquisitions — including Guardian and, most recently, Infor — have forced us to evolve our capabilities in ways that benefit a bigger and much more complex organization.”

And that, Swan says, is the essence of KGS’s existence. “We are a collection of shared service capabilities partnering with and serving Koch companies to create superior value.”

ACID TEST

Swan believes the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of preparation and transformation. “The fact that so many of our office-based employees have been able to work remotely is because we were prepared before this crisis hit,” Swan said. 

“With the support of the Koch companies we had already rolled out Office365 collaboration tools, which helped forge a path for future software and cloud strategies. Last December we helped launch a new, global platform for our HR team to use in supporting employees. It’s easy now to see the value of establishing operations outside the U.S. that can help ensure our ability to provide support functions without interruption.”

Through the success of projects like these, “and our commitment to learning through mistakes and failures along the way,” Swan is proud of how KGS has continually transformed and improved. “That’s never going to stop.”

Swan believes KGS is now at a tipping point. “We have more employees outside the U.S. than within.” That’s why the launch of Koch Global Services, with its new approach and new commitment to service, is more than just a name change. 

“It’s a way of bringing focus to who we are as a global organization. It simplifies the way our customers can engage with their shared service provider. It also enables KGS employees to more easily connect with how they’re expected to work.

“KGS and 'All in. All Together.' better represents who we are and who we are striving to be.”