Some 60 per cent of public sector organisations have one or more shared services initiatives underway as of this month, up from 51 per cent last year, an E-Government Bulletin reader survey has found. Almost all bodies (99 per cent) are now either considering, planning or undertaking at least one shared services project, compared with 85 per cent in our 2007 survey.
However, only 28 percent of survey respondents were aware of a clear policy for shared services within their organisation, lower than last year’s figure of 34 per cent. Some 44 per cent of respondents said that their organisation had no clear policy on shared services, up from 39 per cent; while 28 percent were unaware of whether or not their organisation had a clear policy (similar to last year at 27 per cent)
Around half (47 per cent) said their top management team was strongly supporting the shared services agenda, and a further 49 per cent said managers were showing ’some interest’. However 4 per cent reported little interest among senior managers in shared services and 10 per cent said relevant politicians were showing little interest.
Most respondents (90 per cent) believe that sharing services will improve service provision to citizens; since last year however, expectations have fallen with the survey revealing that the number of those who believe that there will be major service improvements has fallen from 52 to 41 percent.
The top three major barriers according to the survey are lack of support from top managers, inter-organisational turf-wars; and problems with data compatibility. In almost all cases the number of respondents identifying an obstacle as a major barrier has fallen since last year, however, with the only exception being ‘concerns about accountability to the citizen,’ which doubled from 7 to 14 per cent.
Meanwhile the Politech Institute, a Brussels based consultancy, has published “Transformational government and shared services in Europe”, containing case studies from the UK and Belgium and details of a pan-European research project. For details contact: http://www.politech-institute.org/
NOTE: This week Headstar is running an online summit on shared services in the public sector, in partnership with Siemens. If you would like to take part in this online debate please visit http://www.headstar-events.com/shared-services08/online-summit/
