Unlock the Highlights from Higher Education Shared Services & Outsourcing Week (Higher Ed SSOW)

We’re still buzzing from the incredible success of Higher Ed SSOW this past September! The feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive, proving once again why this event is the go-to forum for driving innovation and collaboration in higher education shared services.

Ready to relive the action and dive into all the exciting moments by exploring our Post-Show Report. Whether you were there or couldn’t attend, this report is your ultimate guide to the event’s top insights and breakthroughs. Here’s what you’ll find:

• Top Sessions & Speakers: Get the highlights from standout sessions on RPA & AI, Lean Process Improvement, and more. These discussions, led by top-rated industry leaders, are shaping the future of higher ed shared services
• Audience Insights: Discover who attended and the key demographics driving change in the higher education sector
• Attendee Experiences: Hear directly from your peers about why Higher Ed SSOW was an eye-opening event that fostered meaningful connections and fresh ideas
• Beyond the Conference: Explore the unique networking opportunities, exclusive site tours, and off-site experiences that made this year’s event truly unforgettable

Ready to dive in? Claim your complimentary copy of the Post-Show Report today! Prefer to have it emailed to you? Click here.

Higher education institutions face unique challenges in streamlining operations. Kellie Campbell, Chief Information Officer, Vermont State Colleges System, shares her expertise in a must-read thought leader interview, offering a practical guide to mastering shared services implementation.

Talking points include:

• Efficient Communication
• Service Selection
  
• Effective SLAs
• Transparency
• Budgeting
• And so much more!

This interview is your roadmap to a more efficient and cost-effective shared services model. Want your copy emailed to you instead? Just click here!

Unlock the Power of Shared Services in Higher Education!

In today's rapidly evolving educational landscape, optimizing shared services is more critical than ever. This comprehensive report is designed to help your institution navigate the complexities of shared services, streamline operations, reduce costs, and boost service quality.

Inside This Report:

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Essential metrics to track your progress and ensure you're on the right path
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Guidelines to maintain consistent and high-quality service delivery
• Success Measures: Critical benchmarks to measure and achieve your goals

Gain valuable insights and practical strategies to revolutionize your institution's shared services. Want your copy emailed to you? Click here and start transforming your operations today! 

Higher Ed institutions are juggling complex challenges in managing shared services. This Thought Leader Interview with Patrick McClain provides actionable strategies to optimize your operations and achieve success!

Our interview with Patrick McClain, a shared services leader, dives into:

• Selecting the right vendor for your needs
• Keeping your employees engaged
• Mastering the hybrid work environment

Prefer to get the interview straight to your inbox? Click here to claim your copy!

Are you ready to transform your institution's approach to change management? How can proactive strategies in shared services elevate your higher education institution?

Key Topics Inside Include:

• The importance of proactive change management in higher education
• A detailed five-step process for successful change management
• Aligning institutional goals, processes, core values, and technologies
• Case studies and best practices from leading institutions

In the dynamic landscape of higher education, effective change management is vital for institutions aiming to align with evolving goals, processes, core values, and technologies. Discover the essential five-step process that outlines the key stages involved in successful change management.

Want your copy emailed to you? Click here.

Is your institution struggling to attract and retain top-tier talent in the competitive landscape of higher education shared services? How can effective talent management strategies give you a competitive edge?

This Report Explores:

• The critical importance of talent recruiting and retention in higher education
• Effective talent management strategies for fostering growth and excellence
• Innovative approaches to attract and retain top-tier talent
• Real-time statistics and insights into optimizing shared services models

Discover innovative approaches to attract and retain exceptional individuals, providing valuable, real-time statistics to offer invaluable insights into unlocking the full potential of collaborative and efficient shared services models. Read it now!

Click here to have your copy emailed to you!

How can your institution ensure the success of its Shared Services Organization (SSO) initiatives? Are you ready to secure essential buy-in from your staff and faculty?

This Report Explores:

• The growing prevalence of SSOs in higher education
• The critical importance of stakeholder buy-in for successful SSOs
• Practical steps for institutional leaders to achieve staff and faculty buy-in

Discover the key strategies to create efficiencies and streamline operations through effective stakeholder engagement. Read it now!

Request a copy via email here.

With rising tuition, research dollars shrinking, and state budget allocations being reduced, the higher education industry has important cost issues to address. To manage this, a growing number of colleges and universities are adopting a shared services model for various activities and transactions. However, the higher education sector is relatively new to the adoption of such a model, and there are already a number of frequently voiced myths that, if believed, can leave an institution hesitant to implement shared services.

Ronn Kolbash, Associate Vice President for Shared Services, University of Chicago and Stephanie Avallone, Director of Service & Quality Management, Yale University debunk these myths in this exclusive article.

Despite the obvious process improvements and efficiencies afforded by a shared services model, many institutions struggle to upend deeply-rooted processes that prevent cost-savings and efficiencies. Stephanie Avallone, Director, Strategy & Quality Management at Yale Shared Services, walks us through the university's strategy, implementation and continual improvements in this exclusive interview.

"I've learned over the years that the more time I spent with the people the more successful we become," says Pam Gabel, Executive Director, Shared Services Center, University of Michigan in this exclusive interview. It's all about the People. Processes can be trained. Process improvement can be strategized. It's easy to train people to do value mapping, but it's difficult to train someone to deliver a vision and to be responsive to people. That takes a lot more time.

This benchmarking report showcases the results from live audience polling that was conducted with higher education and government shared services professionals at SSON's 9th Shared Services & Process Improvement for Higher Education & Government conference, which was held in United States in December 2016.

In this exclusive interview, Kevin Hegary, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, University of Michigan, helps us understand that designing your shared services model to solve the problems your organization is currently facing is the key to success.

Ahead of the 2nd Shared Services in Higher Education Summit, we sat down with some of the biggest influencers on our SSHE Advisory Board in order to gather their insight on the challenges they have faced along their shared services journies.

We linked up with keynote speaker, Dr. Michael H. Hites, Senior Associate Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Administrative IT Services, University of Illinois System to get his expertise on how IT can be so crucial to adding value to shared services.

In this presentation, Mark Robinson, Director of Lean, University of St. Andrews disuccess the Lean basic principles applied to your Shared Services Centre Operations and how to develop and stick to your plan.

Get an inside look about Scott Madden, a management consulting firm, from Courtney Jackson, Partner, Multi-FunctionTransformation and Change Management and Laura Campbell, Director, Multi-Function Supporting Technologies. Learn about their shared services knowledge, expertise, and experience.

Find out why Change Management is important to shared services from Megan Glide Villasenor, MBA Assistant Director, Customer Service & Strategic Initiatives, University of California, Davis

Find out how Matthew Fajack, Vice Chancellor, Finance & Administration, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill designed and launched a shared service model to serve Carolina.

This report (the first in a 2-part series) is one of the most comprehensive you will find on this fast-changing topic. With contributing insights from independent advisor Lee Coulter, CEO of Ascension Service Center,in his capacity as Chief Intelligent Automation Officer for SSON and Chair of the IEEE Working Group on Standards in Intelligent Process Automation, the market analysis presents the broad continuum of opportunities represented by intelligent automation from the allimportant perspective of “fit for purpose.”

In the H1 report, we introduced the Intelligent Automation continuum, highlighting the ‘fit for purpose’ characteristics of the many tools on offer, and providing guidance on how to make the right selections.

In this, part 2, of our 2017 IA report series, we look at operating models, governance frameworks, and the anxiety that is being unleashed as a result of robotic implementations.

How to use a 'try and test' methodology to hone in on solving user experience

In the age of user-centricity and customer experience, Design Thinking coming to the fore. SSON’s editor talks to Mito Mihelič, Head of Design Thinking at Viessmann Group GmbH.

Why is Design Thinking becoming so important? The answer is because most organizations don't truly know their customer, and that’s a problem they need to solve, especially as the digital revolution risks exacerbating this gap. And while Design Thinking might be an intuitive approach to improving Viessmann’s customers’ appreciation for the company’s heating, cooling and climate control technology, it’s equally valuable in improving business process gaps. In fact, the philosophy is truly about humanizing digital processes.

It has become ever more clear that corporate enterprise practitioners must scale intelligent automation. You must also reestablish whether or not you’re on the right path as you plot your course on your intelligent automation journey. But you can’t fall behind so you’ve got to start working with cognitive solutions now. Next generation solutions thirst for your unstructured data — but, by definition — you’re having a tough time identifying that data. And even if you could — those cognitive solutions must learn from your current infrastructure, which needs systems integration. And wasn’t this supposed to be something you could do without IT?!

The AI & Intelligent Automation Network feels your pain. And so, we’ve asked friends and community members to not only lay out what they’re doing but to provide some feedback on what you can do right now to transform your enterprise before it’s too late. This report includes:

• Nadia deVilla shares thoughts on re-engineering the enterprise through metrics
• Tony Saldanha discusses realizing 5 step-changes to digital transformation
• Cindy Gallagher urges you to really deal with your carbon-based workforce
• Rohit Amberker advises that exponential impact has arrived, so we must now act accordingly
• Marcin Nowakowski believes that automation scaling up will come through agile transformation
• Manish Rai unpacks your dark data to democratize your digital transformation
• Lee Coulter wonders if we’ve got the talent to do this while laying out how we can do this
• Jerry Wagner has discovered a metric methodology, which informs the enterprise
• Bob Kurpershoek shares ideas on building your team to tackle dark data now
• Rajeshwari Ganesan provides insight into the design of the human brain
• And Aric Dromi does his best to think differently about the larger issues at hand

You’ll notice that we don’t have a ton of statistics in this report. That’s by design. These pages feature your colleagues speaking your language and providing actionable takeaways. Besides, we’ll be providing new market statistics in our next report: AI 2020 — our annual update out in January 2019.

They say the Future is Now — it’s a big concept — it may mean carpe diem. For corporate enterprise practitioners it just means very hard work that needs to be done in a new and different way. Sure, you can learn from the past — but one of the keys in these pages is to unlearn from the past as well.

HR services has emerged from the back office to play a significant role in supporting CEOs’ strategic imperative to optimize human resources. In its new role, HR services is no longer just about effective recruiting and career management, however, but about developing and supporting talent, ensuring it’s productive, and providing the framework and tools to create improved value-add for the business.

These Top Performers have 10 characteristics in common that determine their success. The main differentiator is a best practice HR service delivery model that leverages the process expertise of a COE; transactional efficiencies of a Service Center; and skilled localized field HR deployed across three different levels of support: strategic advice for business leaders; advisory support for middle managers; and administrative support where locally required.

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Words of wisdom for higher education leaders looking to break into SSOs from:

• Pam Gabel, Executive Director, Shared Services Center, University of Michigan
• Jae-Anne Peace, ConnectionPoint Director, University of Saskatchewan
• Jennifer Pike, Shared Services Program Director, University of Oklahoma

The 3 in-depth interviews include actionable advice on how to overcome resistance to change, planning & launching a new SSO, measuring success and selecting the best-fit enabling technologies.

Bureau Veritas’s Mumbai-based Global SSC provides effective integrated support that makes the organization run – just not in the traditional way. As Shared Services has become table stakes across a large number of global and multinational enterprises, the model is nevertheless under constant pressure to outperform itself. The secret to the success of Bureau Veritas’s approach is deep knowledge capability within the SSC, which leverages both technical and process expertise. And although in the early years there was certainly pushback from local businesses, over time this proven expertise has won over global acceptance, Avinash explains: “We could not be trusted otherwise to take on the critical business operations work that we have taken on, if the business didn’t trust us locally to support its clients.”

Bureau Veritas’s innovative SSO model is an extraordinary example of the efficiencies and expertise inherent to the Shared Services model being applied to a core business, and perfectly exemplifies the new generation Shared Services delivery models that are driving innovative service delivery. The differentiator is that SSO activities at bureau Veritas are integrated with business operations to deliver greater value and drive stronger efficiencies.

Fill out the form to learn more about Bureau Veritas’s SSO journey........

Ronn Kolbash, JD, Associate Vice President for Shared Services, University of Chicago and Amy Schwartz, EdD, Associate Vice Chancellor, Partnerships & Shared Services Initiatives, University System of New Hampshire compare & contrast their shared services models.

No building, no money, no resources… No problem. If you build it right, they will not know what they did without you. Overcoming the fear, the faculty and the frustration of having to implement shared services. Learn how University of Iowa implemented shared services in the face of overwhelming change on campus. Learn about their methodology for measuring the baseline, measurement of progress and success, as well as how they attained a 50% improvement and $900,000 in FTE savings in one year.

Presentation by Debby Zumbach, Associate Vice President of Finance and Operations, Director of Purchasing and Business Services/University Shared Services, University of Iowa

Developing and maintaining strategic partnerships with faculty is imperative to the success of restructuring higher learning institute undergoing significant operational and systemic restructuring as their happiness is key to the success of the school. To ensure a smooth adoption process and continued support of your programs, it is important that you continually keep in mind all the key players affected by your service delivery. Attend this session to gain valuable insights on:

• Designing and implementing a program that best meets the needs of your faculty and all parties affected by switching to a shared services model
• Creating branding messages that speak to your faculty’s needs and deliver the ROI rewards promised

Presentation by:

• Evelyn Hidalgo, Assoc. Dean, Academic & Education Administration
• Adriana Long, Strategic and Operations Manager

As an organization with a shared service, you strive to achieve greater efficiencies and more streamlined operations; therefore, you may be considering adding Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to your shared services as a way to enable cost savings and greater scalability. But what exactly is RPA? And how does it fit in with your SS goals? Is the promise of greater speed, efficiency, standardization, and accuracy worth the financial investment? This session will answer your burning RPA question and provide you with a clear plan to develop a structured framework before embarking on your RPA initiatives. You will learn:

• The benefits of integrating a RPA into your SS
• How to coordinate an implementation
• How to secure stakeholders engagement
• How to work collaboratively with vendors

Leave with an understanding of the potential of RPA and how to successfully integrate them with your internal resources to drive success.

Presentation by Pam Gabel, Executive Director of the Shared Services Center, University of Michigan

Highly skilled, dedicated, talented, and engaged employees are critical to the success of your Shared Services operation. But with resource constraints and cash compensation options limited, higher education continues to experience high workforce turnover, with seasoned and skilled employees leaving for higher paying private sector jobs that seemingly offer greater opportunities for career growth. How can universities develop a career plan to recruit and retain high performers— making them champions of shared services centers? This session is designed to address these retention challenges and provide proven strategies to keep your best talent pool engaged and happy.

Topics will include:

• How your talent pool can strengthen your SSC operation
• The important role communication plays in your retention strategy
• Why developing a meaningful career plan that provides opportunities to train all staff members to their full potential is essential
• Case studies on effective recruitment and retention strategies plan to incorporate what you have learned into your stakeholder and customer messaging
• Creating programs to incentivize beyond compensation

Presentation by Sarah Peri, Associate Director of Operations & Outreach, Academic Finance & Administration, Brown University

Colleges/Universities are expected to “do more with less” and be more innovative if they want to stay financially sustainable and competitive. Reducing the costs of administrative operations through centralized and streamlined back-office functions that will increase productivity while improving the quality of services provided is a huge driving factor for Shared Services within the Higher Education industry. In this infographic, our SSON Analytics team has put together stats regarding operational efficiencies observed in U.S. Higher Education SSCs.