Tim’s Takeaways: What You Need to Know About QSMOs

I’ve previously shared that Shared Services have become a focal point for government leaders tasked with improving the effectiveness and efficiency of their organizations. As part of this move toward shared resourcing, the Office of Management & Budget has introduced Quality Service Management Offices (QSMOs) in Cybersecurity Services, Core Financial Management, Grants Management, and most recently, Human Resources (HR) Management.

Here’s how OMB describes a QSMO:

“Designated QSMOs serve as governmentwide storefronts, offering multiple solutions for technology and services in their functional area. QSMOs offer modern technology and transaction processing solutions to drive scale, standardization, and efficiency.”

I believe this is a concept with legs, so I was pleased to sit on a recent ACT-IAC roundtable on the topic: QSMOs – A Promising Model: What’s Important, What’s Needed, What’s Possible. We focused on how federal leaders and industry collaborators can help make the QSMO marketplaces more impactful; how the QSMO approach aligns with the CX Executive Order; and upcoming challenges and opportunities.

Here are my key takeaways from the event:

• The development of inter-agency standards and priorities for shared services remains a core government priority. The successful standup of four new QSMOs is a key component of this strategy – and we can expect more QSMOs to follow.
• The creation of centralized capabilities, shared services governance, and performance expectations are vital to the successful adoption of shared services more broadly across the government. I believe the ongoing development of the QSMO marketplaces is advancing that goal.
• In addition to the QSMO effort, there is also a huge opportunity to expedite the adoption of existing quality services that currently perform well and provide demonstrated value to agency customers. In short, just because a given agency doesn’t have a QSMO doesn’t mean Shared Services aren’t a priority or that there isn’t a desire to explore them.
• U.S. citizens won’t be the only beneficiaries of the CX Executive Order. Federal employees are customers of their own and collaborating with their agencies, is making their experience critical to furthering the overarching CX agenda. To that end, I believe the Executive Order underscores the importance of customer experience in the successful standup of the QSMO marketplaces as well as within each Agency and Department.

If you’re looking for more insight on Shared Services or advice on how to best leverage your agency’s QSMO, you can reach me anytime at Tim.Rund@theclearing.com.

I also hope to visit with some of you in person at this week’s Shared Services Summit. My colleague Regina Perkins will continue our discussion on QSMOs, while I will moderate on financing investments in government shared services. See you there!