Recent research by Jim McDade, lead partner for the government operating group at Accenture in Canada, described how governments around the globe have been fighting a common battle on three fronts:

A global downturn in the economy has led to increased fiscal pressures

Growing expectations that public-sector organizations should be more accountable to stakeholders and deliver better public services

Impending labour shortages as an aging workforce retires, and the retention of experienced knowledge becomes more difficult

What that all this points to, the article’s author concludes, is the need for shared services – a different way of organizing government operations. Around the world and in Canada, governments are required to accomplish seemingly endless objectives with decidedly limited resources. The traditional options for governments faced with such a dilemma have been to either cut services or increase revenue through higher taxes.

One of the bigger obstacles faced in the move to shared services, as explained by McDade, is dealing with multiple enterprise-level information technology systems and old legacy systems.

Some government leaders have overcome integration obstacles and achieved remarkable results through the shared services approach, thereby dramatically increasing the value of the services they provide and transforming their organizations into high performers.

The government executives interviewed for McDade’s article saw technology as a key enabler for moving to shared services. In many cases, the right technology had enabled simplification, standardization and automation of previously complex, diverse, tedious and duplicated manual tasks.

For example, the U.S. Defence Finance and Accounting Service turned 300 sites into 27. Not surprisingly, executives there believe the successful move to shared services could not have happened without a solid technology platform.

In other governments, reengineering of systems in the long term was regarded as vital to realizing the full savings and efficiency potential of shared services. In this regard, a shared vision between the leadership in the shared services organization and the chief technology officer is key.

At ISTCL, we can help your organization to achieve a new efficiency. We will assess existing systems, identifying process duplications and bottlenecks to information flow. Then, we’ll map out a strategy for aligning your systems with enterprise-wide objectives, to deliver the best possible service to internal and external stakeholders.

Contact ISTCL for information about how we can help you to achieve your business vision.

Toll-Free Phone: 1.800.457.4123
General Email: Jessica Bouchard