Savings through shared services have been achieved at agencies including United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Labor, United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), United States Postal Service, and the Air Force. In his blog, John Vonglis, former Air Force Chief Financial Officer, discusses the Air Force’s approach to shared services and the $200 million in savings achieved. With tightening budgets, the question is not whether to move to shared services, but what functions to consolidate and how.

Jeff Koch, Associate Partner, IBM Strategy & Transformation Practice, addresses the first part of this question in his blog.  He recommends that agencies initially focus on back office functions that have the biggest problems, e.g., uncontrolled cost, poor customer service, aging technology, and/or a declining workforce.  Jeff also provides guidance to help agencies decide whether to consolidate functions within the agency, use a government Center of Excellence, or outsource to the private sector.

Next in the blog series, Adam Jelic, also an Associate Partner in IBM’s Strategy & Transformation Practice, presents tips for successful transition to shared services. His tips include:

• Start with a business case
• Ensure executive commitment
• Establish a governance structure, for both the transition and ongoing Shared Service Center (SCC) operations
• Select an experienced project manager to lead the transition
• Use benchmarks to set objectives for the SSC
• Re-engineer processes, don’t just consolidate
• Use enabling technologies to maximize efficiencies
• Focus on people, both from the transitioning organizations and in the SSC
• Put a robust change management plan in place
• Measure all benefits, not just cost

The blogs reveal that most agencies realize benefits from shared services beyond cost savings, additional benefits include improved customer service, strengthened controls, greater agility, and increased focus on the mission. We hope you found these blogs on Shared Services useful.

Steve Watson, CPA, CGFM, CMA, is a partner in IBM’s Global Business Services, Public Sector Financial Management Practice. He has 30 years experience helping federal agencies improve financial management.  He is also a recipient of the Association of Government Accountant’s Andy Barr award, which recognizes a private sector leader for his / her contribution to improved public sector financial management.

Steve Watson (steve.watson@us.ibm.com)

0 comments

Your name: *

E-mail: *

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Subject:

Write a comment...

Your comment will appear after administrative review.

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

What code is in the image?: *

Enter the characters shown in the image.

1170 recommendations

Recommend this