Ken Cole on the lessons of shared services in local government :: PublicTechnology.net :: e-Government & public sector IT news + job vacancies:

Authorities must ‘learn from past lessons’ according to the procurement and commercial advisor at London’s Capital Ambition.

“The culture in local government is changing rapidly – it needs to be speeded up,” said Ken Cole at the recent Operational Efficiency Conference, held at London’s Barbican centre. The procurement and commercial advisor at Capital Ambition, London's Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership, spoke about his thoughts on implementing shared services across local authorities.

Warning “there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer” because of the difficulties of benchmarking local authorities because of their differing priorities, Cole instead argued the implementation of shared services on a case-by-case basis. Citing the structure in London, which is made up of 33 separate authorities, he said, “people have to be realistic; they were originally set up were as separate authorities.”

The current position of local authorities is in a state of flux, thanks to the impending cost efficiency measures that will come into force in the near future. Cole outlined a number of markers which will help assess whether shared services at a local authority level are a success or failure:

• Do they offer democratic local accountability?
• Are they designed to meet needs of the community inside a defined geographical boundary?
• Are they things that central government did not want?

Whilst change is inevitable given the current financial circumstances, Cole pointed out that a move for radical change is “tough to push through.” He listed some of the traditional drivers for change, and some of the new ones on the horizon:

Traditional drivers of change:
• Improved ROI
• Demographic / structural changes
• People’s expectations and awareness

New drivers:
• Legislative demands
• Massive pressure on public sector budgets

Of the typical shared service models available to local authorities, including outsourcing and cross-sector organisations, Cole cited post sharing as the model currently performing well. A “soft step” towards the merging of departments, post sharing is where one person runs two organisations.

Cole listed a number of current shared service models which have a tendency for success and failure:

Currently successful shared service models:
• Post sharing
• Two organisations
• Cross sector organisations
• Outsourcing

Models with a tendency to fail:
• Multiple organisations, where one clusters in one sector
• Outcome-system, payroll and benefits

To local authority delegates listening at the Barbican, Cole finished with a list of critical success factors for shared services to succeed:
• Must have the political and CEO buy-in from the outset, and its crucial initial interest levels are maintained
• Action on cultural and change management. People must be involved in the process
• Ensure optimum numbers (two to three) to make progress
• Know why you are doing it and avoid market conditioning
• Keep the model simple and avoid scope creep