A new era of shared services
Shared services make it possible for governments to improve outcomes without recreating the wheel. By sharing services, governments around the world can reduce duplication, achieve economies of scale, and quickly roll out valuable services to the citizens they serve. While shared services has been a government topic for decades, today’s advanced cloud capabilities make it possible to implement this model on a far broader scale. In this new era of shared services, governments are no longer constrained by the cost of building out their own datacenters. Instead, they can create and share services in the cloud at far less expense. By doing so, governments can develop innovative solutions that make a real impact on the citizens they serve.
Over the years, Microsoft has worked with governments of all sizes to implement a shared services model. Through this work, we’ve observed common factors that shape the success of these projects. As governments embrace shared services, here are five best practices to help them obtain the results they seek:
Lay a solid foundation
A shared-service model requires both senior-level sponsorship and ongoing funding. Governments should designate a sponsoring organization with authority from the highest levels of government. In addition, they should allocate consistent funding, realizing that shared services are a long-term investment.
Place the focus on people and process
Adopting a shared-services model can require substantial changes to both an organization’s structure and culture. As a result, governments should develop a comprehensive change management plan that evaluates their organization’s readiness for change, lays out a detailed strategy, and emphasizes open communication, especially with employees whose jobs may be affected.
Establish strong governance
A shared-service model must be accompanied by a strong governance structure such as the creation of a cross-governmental governance board that’s responsible for overseeing and enforcing the use of the shared-services platform. Governments should also classify the security of their data—so they can determine which services are most appropriate for the cloud.
Emphasize service delivery
For shared services to be successful, the emphasis needs to be on quality. Governments should establish strong service-level agreements, with service levels the same or higher than what was previously offered. In addition, governments should consider how best to deliver shared services—whether through internal sourcing, a public-private partnership, or an external service provider.
Embrace the cloud
The cloud opens up new opportunities for shared services by making it possible for governments to obtain processing capability, storage capacity, and applications without the expense of expanding their on-premises datacenters. And with new hybrid cloud technologies, governments have the option of deploying some shared services in the cloud and others in their own datacenters—easily moving these services between these two environments as circumstances dictate.
By carefully planning their shared services model, governments can dramatically improve their efficiency and effectiveness, while creating innovative new services for citizens. To learn more, please see our “Best practices for government shared services” white paper.
