One thing is certain, developing successful shared services is
difficult. This is evidenced in the 40 years of academic study on shared
services, called "Inter-Organisational Relationships" IOR for short.
(Google it to learn more).
IOR tells us that in general up to 70% of private sector mergers
or shared service projects, whilst not necessarily failing, do not deliver the desired business case outcomes for
three key reasons.
-
Firstly, a lack of leadership ambition to drive through the difficult
decisions on redundancies, relocations and the required change in
culture.
- Secondly, the projects are under-resourced and added to managers' day jobs.
- Thirdly, the teams who lead the work are untrained in key shared services skills and knowledge - especially those
required to successfully develop and sustain relationships between
partners.
The UK public sector is experiencing the same problems with a large
number of shared service projects stumbling to success or crumbling.
This is causing reputational damage to both the development teams and
the organisations in the partnerships.
To
respond to this challenge a new role has emerged, that of a qualified shared service
practitioner, someone trained and skilled to work in the development of public sector
shared services. A shared service architect is a shared service practitioner who has completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Shared Services or similar qualification, and can evidence experience in leading successful shared service activities.
This website and the Shared Service Architect's programme and toolboxes are dedicated to helping you develop those
practitioner skills and the knowledge required to successfully initiate and
implement shared service solutions across the public sector. To help you get it right first time and to turbo-charge your CV as a recognised shared service professional.