Shared services

Shared services are much in vogue yet there are relatively few examples of successful implementations. It's not hard to see why - for anything other than a simple service shared between two organisations, the complexity of the approach quickly multiplies as the service becomes more complex, and the number of partners increases. Many councils already have shared services on a small scale - two or more councils joining together to set up a shared legal service, in which they share their individual legal staff, to create a pool of resource that allows for some degree of specialism and added value. But shared services applied to HR, payroll, ICT, and other services which tend to employ relatively large numbers of staff, are more difficult to im0plement effectively.

Applying shared services to internal processes can save modest amounts - maybe 5% - 10% of running costs. But shared services applied to customer facing services (by creating joint contact centres, joint one-stop shops and joint websites) create very much larger potential savings - 20% and upwards.

Socitm Consulting has worked with numerous shared service partnerships and has helped them through all stages of the process - from the earliest stages of feasibility assessment, through outline and detailed business case, project and programme management, to implementation.

Case studies (endorsed by the clients concerned) for shared services include:

Alnwick and Berwick - financial services review
Lancashire - shared services helpdek implementation
South Hams, West Devon andTeignbridge - Shared services business case
 

Other projects completed by Socitm Consulting include:

Related briefings -

Shared services- time for action
Shared services
Shared services - a practical guide

If you would like to discuss how we may be able to help you in this area, please call us on 0845 450 0904, or email info@socitmconsulting.co.uk.