Public sector warms to shared services

Public sector organisations around the world are making more and more use of shared services, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The survey, 'Evaluating Public Sector Shared Services', found that more than half of the organisations studied have already taken on shared service systems, with more expecting to take them on in the next three years.

Key reasons for taking shared services on included its impact on business process improvement which was cited by 75 per cent of respondents and the ability to bring it into legacy IT environments without the need for costly replacements.

The trend towards shared services should be expected to continue and increase into the future, the report says.

'In fact, it is a pretty good bet that in the near future the use of shared services will increase significantly as pressure is brought from within and without against wasteful government entities,' it said.

There are some remaining doubts about what shared services can give and what they can deliver in improvements, the BEA Systems commissioned report says.

'Lack of top-level support can derail shared services technology implementation,' it said.

'Part of the concern stems from worries about the adequacy of in-house skills from 49 per cent of respondents. These concerns make it difficult for respondents to separate the business case and the technical justifications for investing in shared services.'

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Further Reading:

• District council to overhaul processes NHS Direct unites databases
• Report backs shared services