What is shared services–and how can I get started with leveraging a shared-services business model in my organization? If you are asking yourself these questions, you are not alone.

At The Clearing, we work with leaders who struggle to determine whether shared services would benefit their organization, and, if so, how to realize those benefits. Some have heard the buzz about shared services following the General Services Administration’s recent formation of the Office of Shared Solutions and Performance Improvement and the issuance of the President’s Management Agenda. Others are looking for cost-savings opportunities.

Shared services is a business model that allows organizations to focus on their core services by transitioning the delivery of non-core services to business partners. Many companies and government agencies that leverage shared services are realizing savings, creating efficiencies, and increasing the quality of services.

Through our work at The Clearing, we’ve found that the first step to developing a shared-services strategy is to establish a shared perspective of the current state of service delivery for your organization. This often includes interviewing stakeholders, developing a list of current services, reviewing service performance metrics, and conducting market research. You can also take The Clearing’s Shared Services Readiness Assessment to help determine your organization’s readiness to adopt a shared-services business model.

It is important to keep in mind that the shared-services model is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution. If your goal is to create efficiencies, that doesn’t necessarily mean that every non-mission-focused service should become a shared service. Instead, it is critical to be intentional about which services are transitioned to a shared-services business model and which services are retained.

Therefore, it is important for leaders to establish a shared intent by aligning around which services are ready for migration to a shared-services business model. It is beneficial to determine the fewest, most important services to prioritize for the initial shift to shared services. Additionally, as leaders prepare for the transition, implementing effective communication, risk management, and governance processes are critical so stakeholders can anticipate and overcome barriers to success.

Only when leaders have a shared perspective of their current state and a shared intent regarding which services to transition to a shared-services business model should they take action to implement their strategy.

Interested in discussing how you can develop a shared services strategy for your organization? Continue the conversation by contacting us.

A key component of the Shared Services business model that is often overlooked is the mentality that accompanies the act of sharing.

Consider examples of sharing in your personal life, and the inherent benefits of sharing, both to yourself and those with whom we share. You may share a home-cooked dinner with family members to increase efficiency through economies of scale. Sharing recommendations from a recent vacation with friends allows them to benefit from your experiences. And, increasingly commonly, we share car rides with strangers headed in the same direction for cost effectiveness, resulting in a lower cost per rider.

Along with these benefits, sharing generally also introduces the need to compromise. When sharing that home-cooked meal, we may not eat our favorite foods every night. When sharing travel tips, we sacrifice some of our own time to do so. And when sharing car rides, it may sometimes take longer to arrive at our destination than it would if we rode alone. But when we share in our personal lives, we make an intentional decision that the benefits–to ourselves and those with whom we are sharing–outweigh the costs.

Just like in our personal lives, sharing also has trade-offs in professional, results-oriented environments. Benefits that result from implementing a shared services business model allow organizations to focus on activities that support their core mission and often include improved process efficiency and cost savings.

Sometimes though, these benefits come at a cost, especially during and immediately following implementation, while we get used to the a new way of working…and trusting. We can feel a loss of control when we transition from having a travel agent down the hall to having one in a different building. Or we may not always receive responses as quickly from a shared services human resources team than we would from a colleague in the office next door.

In our experience, we have discovered two best practices to realizing the maximum benefits of shared services, while minimizing the costs, are to be intentional about the activities that are delivered by a shared services partner and to establish effective customer partnering relationships.

1. Implementing a successful shared services business model requires that leaders have a clear perspective of the current state of their organization and its core mission. Any activities that are not directly related to the core mission should be moved to a trusted shared services partner leaving the organization free to accomplish its mission unencumbered.

2. Being a customer in a shared service environment is a two-way street. Shared services business models are most effective when service providers and customers collaboratively develop solutions using a “bottom-up” approach, with the end-user at the center, rather than through a “top-down” directive. These business models are also most effective when they center around predictable, standardized requests, which consciously balance the needs of the end user with other constraints such as cost. Frequent custom requests and exceptions negatively impact the efficiency of a shared services center and should be compensated appropriately or addressed outside of the shared services center.

Interested in learning more about how The Clearing can help implement a shared service business model at your organization? Contact us at info@theclearing.com.