Focus On Agility

Tuesday at Shared Services Week - The 3 Commandments

From one of the 13th Annual Shared Servers Week sponsors, ScottMadden – a good example of the 3 Commandments you must follow in guiding people through technology change – communicate, communicate, communicate !!!

Monday at Shared Services - It's About Payback

The day ended with this walkthrough of examples of Shared Services partnership that leads line-of-business managers to execute policies and standardize processes – with the rigor to track bottom line savings from A/R and A/P. 

Earlier today we walked through a BEA Systems review of Activity Based Cost management – practical way to clarify the value of a shared service, plus a guide to what to touch to find cash and remove waste.

If you would like more on any of this, I’ll be happy to connect you to the real sources! 

Sunday at Shared Services - Issues on Launching

In Orlando, the Sunday session reviewed the drivers that create an urgent need for a shared service organization, the steps to defining scope and business structure, and the important success factors.

Important take-away – Shared Services are not the same as centralizing services, since a business structure and value proposition is created, then confirmed with metrics, to gain leverage from technology and centers of expertise, while while customizing service for specific internal or external “customers”.  In spite of the low-keyed description, the creation of a shared services operation is in fact very disruptive.  Peer-to-peer conversations focused on how to keep talent and open-ness, remaining very open about the real extent of both organizational and operational transformation.