Too many companies are stuck on the general and administrative (G&A) treadmill—repeatedly cutting costs, only to see inefficiencies creep back in. Instead of creating lasting transformation, they find themselves running the same playbook every few years. High-performing companies are taking a different approach. They’re moving beyond traditional levers like shared services and outsourcing and focusing on deeper, more sustainable improvements.

A recent Bain survey of 300 business and functional leaders in the US and Europe highlights this shift: 69% of respondents said that they plan to launch a G&A improvement program in the next six months, with 25% starting immediately. While cost savings remain a priority, companies are increasingly focused on business impact, customer satisfaction, and digital transformation, including automation and AI adoption (see Figure 1).

Yet despite these ambitions, most organizations will struggle to break free from the cycle. In our survey, 93% of respondents have undertaken a G&A cost improvement program in the recent past, yet 88% plan to launch another soon. Instead of chasing short-term savings, how can companies create lasting impact?

Three ways to get off the G&A treadmill

1. Make bigger bets on automation and AI 

Companies are shifting from incremental efficiencies to fundamentally transforming how work gets done (see Figure 2). Automation and AI sit at the center of this shift.

Many organizations want their people focused on high-value activities, yet employees often spend too much time on manual data gathering. One way Uber is tackling this issue is with QueryGPT, an internal text-to-SQL platform that enables employees to ask data queries in natural language and receive SQL-generated responses. Uber’s massive data platform handles more than a million queries each month to run the business. Previously, that required team members with strong query-building skills and an understanding of the underlying data models, as well as where to find the right columns and tables. The text-to-SQL platform cut query authoring time by 70%, saving approximately 140,000 hours each month.

Generative AI is also unlocking new levels of productivity. JPMorgan Chase rolled out LLM Suite, a generative AI assistant, to more than 200,000 employees last year. Among other applications, the tool helps JPMorgan Chase bankers and advisers with AI-generated suggestions to engage with clients.

Agentic AI is filling gaps where traditional automation falls short. Salesforce reduced the percentage of customer service issues requiring human intervention from 2% to 1% and nearly doubled customer interactions using its agentic AI platform, Agentforce.

Beyond task automation, AI is redefining entire functions. IBM’s AI-driven HR transformation provides a powerful example. AI now screens resumes, predicts job fit, and forecasts attrition risks. AskHR, IBM’s AI assistant, is the single entry point for HR help, handling 11 million queries and automating more than 1 million workflows per year. Meanwhile, its Workforce 360 data platform aggregates insights from more than 30 sources, delivering monthly reports 23 days faster. The impact? In addition to shortening cycle times and increasing speed to resolution of a range of internal HR issues, IBM reduced HR operating costs by 40% over four years.

The big picture: Rather than shifting work from one place to another, leading companies are redesigning processes entirely by leveraging digital tools to remove friction, speed up decision making, and improve accuracy.

2. Set bigger expectations: Clean-sheet your G&A 

One reason companies remain stuck is they don’t aim high enough. Bain’s survey found that most organizations target cost savings of 20% or less, and only 6% set their sights above 40%.

Most cost-saving efforts follow a predictable pattern. Organizations set top-down targets based on benchmarks; then, functions work in silos to identify reductions. The targets may be met, but the way work gets done remains unchanged. Over time, inefficiencies creep back in, forcing companies to repeat the cycle.

In contrast, organizations that achieve lasting savings take a clean-sheet approach—starting with bold goals and working backward to design a G&A function that aligns with their strategic vision. They rethink fundamental aspects of their operations, including the role of the G&A function in the business, the value of services provided, the delivery model for those services, and the systems and data required to scale efficiently.

Leading organizations don’t just try to meet industry benchmarks—they aim to redefine them by embracing a range of innovations (see Figure 3). They are becoming better business partners by democratizing access to data, making insights more visual and personalized, and advancing their analytics capabilities. Many of the emerging leaders are adopting multifunction global business services or next-generation operating models, such as IT organizations adopting a product-oriented approach. They are also embracing process mining, modernizing systems of record, and rethinking traditional outsourcing relationships by exploring hybrid models and outcome-based pricing.

One leading global consumer products company aimed high when it undertook a multiyear finance transformation to improve efficiency and agility. Facing a fragmented finance organization, outdated systems, and rising operational costs, the company redesigned the finance organization and centralized work into shared services. It also redesigned over 400 business processes and implemented a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system across more than 100 countries. By embedding AI into its finance function, it shortened its revenue forecasting cycle from two weeks to two hours while achieving 97% accuracy. This led to double-digit cost savings and a 30% improvement in the company’s Net Promoter Scores (NPS^®).

3. Address the biggest barriers head-on 

Even companies with ambitious goals often struggle to execute their transformation efforts. Bain’s survey identified five major roadblocks: talent shortages, business complexity, fragmented data, lack of process standardization, and outdated systems (see Figure 4). Without addressing these obstacles, companies will continue to fall short.

Many organizations lack the digital and analytical skills needed to support transformation. To close this gap, companies are investing in upskilling programs. Take finance as an example. CFOs are now allocating more resources to training their financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams in advanced analytics than ever before.

Data fragmentation is another critical challenge. Microsoft’s finance modernization effort, for example, required years of investment in a single master data source, a global ERP system, and a data lake that integrates 150 sources and 3,000 key performance indicators. Achieving this level of integration demands more than just new technology—it requires close collaboration across functions.

These challenges cannot be solved in isolation. To succeed, companies must ensure alignment between support functions, IT, HR, and the broader business. Sustained investment in foundational technology is critical, but so is shifting mindsets and behaviors.

Transformation requires more than just cutting costs

The best-performing companies don’t just cut costs—they rethink how their G&A functions operate. They use automation and AI to eliminate inefficiencies, adopt clean-sheet designs to drive meaningful change, and proactively address the biggest barriers to transformation.

For those looking to break free from the G&A treadmill, the path forward is clear: Set bigger goals, rethink work at its core, and invest in the enablers of lasting transformation.