5 Public Sector #Trends in Shared Services

While not unexpected, many of the folks who converged at SSON’s 2014 Public Sector event in San Diego talked about the pressure they are under to drive more value with fewer resources. The limited budget that so many support functions are laboring under has brought Shared Services, as a delivery model, to the top of many lists. Here are the key trends that kept recurring: 1. Trending #morewithless Don’t waste time by going it alone Of course the pressure to produce more with less is nothing new – it has formed somewhat of a common theme over the past 6 years. One of the lessons emerging, however, is the futility of trying to go it alone, without experienced resources or a tried and tested methodology. While the temptation to pull together a project group to "implement" Shared Services is great, a number of presenters shared the pitfalls of this approach: most notably in terms of the time wasted trying to figure things out, limited availability of staff trying to support two different roles, and failure to overcome internal resistance from people who feel threatened by the new model. The real cost of this is when the patience of sponsors finally runs out as inexperienced resources bumble opportunities, detractors jump on mistakes, and increasing clamor for attention at the front end of customer interface. Instead, leveraging external resources has emerged as a solution for those who want to get results fast. Whether networking at events such as SSON’s annual Public Sector conference in San Diego, running informal benchmarking groups, or calling upon friends and associates within the institution as well as across a social media network, there is a lot of experience out there to help. Exchanging information, tips, and practices is a real value driver, especially given public sector constraints. When a mandate is given, many speakers confirmed, time is of the essence. Bringing in external resources means not having to figure things out as you go along, not being dependent on internal schedules and political wrangling, and being able to rely on tried and tested methodologies. In addition, many cited the fact that it is easier to sell the credibility of a project based on third parties’ prior experience. Last but not least: the ability of an independent party to name the elephant in the room without fear of political repercussions. Be smart in integrating learnings from outside resources What is important, however, is to make sure that you integrate any solution internally. In other words, that you do not adopt an external solution but that you assimilate its learnings so that it can stand on its own, internally-resourced feet. This need to assimilate the knowledge of any third party is a crucial element in any partnership. 2. Trending #dataanalytics Getting out of the data smog Another trend that many are grasping onto is the potential of data analytics to improve performance across the public sector. The challenge – and the public sector is not alone here – is in fighting a way through the data smog to drive Intelligence out of Information. The University of Alabama shared an excellent example of how they are leveraging the data in their systems to identify characteristics of graduates, to drive higher rates of graduation through their student body. By tracking metrics that correlate with failure to graduate (whether class size or amount of student debt), they are able to take steps to reduce dropout rates. The ability to flag certain danger signals that correlate with failure is incredibly valuable. Bringing hard data to stand behind an argument for change is proving enormously effective across public sector institutions, especially in the fact-based environment of higher education. [eventpdf] 3. Trending #pickingthebest Don’t tackle this kind of change without experience The emergence of real talent within this sector was another takeaway this week. We saw strong signs of it at last year’s event, and this year showed the trend increasing. The City of Houston’s choice of Omar Reid as head of its Human Resources is a great example of the public sector picking outstanding talent from the private sector (in this case UPS) to drive improvements through what are often fragmented and convoluted processes. Often, this simply will not happen without outside impetus. Omar was hand picked by Houston's new mayor five years ago to fix the city’s HR problems. He has applied the discipline gained from the private sector to modernize the HR framework that manages the city’s 21,000 employees, and has transformed HR into a flexible model that is able to meet fluctuating demand for resources, for example in the summer months, while cutting significant costs. While the real impact of these kinds of folks is truly unquantifiable because of the ripple effect, the ability to demonstrate hard savings to the bottom line is important. 4. Trending #planningisessential Don’t even think of skipping over a business case Whatever the challenge or the desired output, time and again organizations that had invested in developing a watertight business cases, and prepared for a multitude of scenarios, tended to demonstrate more success with their initiatives. Failures, where these were shared, were inevitably linked to the complete absence of any kind of business case amidst the pressure to get things done quickly. This is something the public sector is constantly having to balance: the need to get results now, versus carefully planning for resources and timelines, and evaluating options. While the challenges of delivering cost cutting against improved service targets are immense, embarking on the kind of change implied by Shared Services should never be done without investing in pre-launch planning. 5. Trending #trackyourresults Notional savings won’t impress anyone – track those metrics A final point is that planning to save money is not the same as realizing savings. For many institutions, it is not easy to track the actual hard savings made as a result of Shared Services: Monies saved in one area are easily diverted or reinvested into another project. Nevertheless, if you do not stick to a policy of tracking, booking, and communicating the additional value (in cost savings or otherwise) you deliver, you run the risk of your achievements not being recognized. Notional savings can easily cloud the issue, and it is something detractors will jump on quickly, so it is best to be prepared.

5 Public Sector #Trends in Shared Services

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