Anton Joha

Motives for establishing shared service centers in public administrations

Shared service centers (SSCs) have gained the interest of politicians and public administrations to improve efficiency. By unbundling and centralizing activities, the basic premise for SSCs seems to be that services provided by one local department can be provided to others with relatively few efforts. The introduction of a SSC is a major decision having a long-term impact on all the participants and is often competing with outsourcing arrangements. As such it is of essential importance to get a better understanding of the motives for introducing SSCs. The motives for introducing a SSC in public administration are presented and discussed in this paper. First, by means of investigating an existing SSC in time, the initial motives for introducing a SSC have been compared with the accomplished benefits after realizing the SSC. The introduction of a SSC was driven by a series of complex, interrelated motives. Second, because SSCs can be regarded as a specific kind of sourcing arrangement, the motives for establishing a SSC have been compared with the motives associated with outsourcing as found in literature. This should help decision-makers in making a tradeoff between SSCs and other sourcing arrangements.

Emerging shared service organizations and the service‐oriented enterprise

Purpose – Service‐orientation enables new organizational forms and organization initiate shared service centers (SSCs) to become shared service organizations (SSOs) or service‐oriented enterprises (SOEs). Services can be performed in‐house, shared or outsourced. However, this form of organization faces significant challenges and to date not much research has focused on capturing experiences in this domain. The aim of this paper is to identify critical management issues in the development of service‐oriented arrangements.Design/methodology/approach – The research used a combination of literature and case study research, whereby literature provided the theoretical foundations and the case study is used to identify the critical research challenges.Findings – Technological developments enable a service‐oriented approach, leading to new organizational forms and a shift towards a more market‐oriented type of control. The SOE is an enterprise that is modularized in business domains and organized around SSCs. New...

Simulation and animation for adopting shared services: Evaluating and comparing alternative arrangements

Abstract Although shared service organizations have the potential to improve government operations, the adoption of the organizational arrangements involved has been limited. Their impact may not be clear in advance and stakeholders may have conceptions about shared service arrangements. As such, there is a need for support for the adoption of shared services. In this paper, we develop and statistically validate simulation models to evaluate the impact of shared services, and in this way support their adoption. We analyze a case study involving municipalities that wanted to share services and found that simulation models facilitate discussions about alternative arrangements prior to implementation. The simulation models show that shared services can result in improved efficiency and service levels. However, the type of arrangement determines the level of efficiency, as high service levels can only be realized at the expense of efficiency, which means that the decision about the type of arrangement is not obvious. Decision-makers should understand the implications of shared service arrangement prior to implementation and make decisions with regard to key design variables.

Exploring relationships of shared service arrangements in local government

Purpose – Scant research attention has been given to investigating shared service organizations and in particular their relationships. The aim of this research is to investigate the critical decisions and design choices regarding the design of a shared service center (SSC) and the relationship with its users.Design/methodology/approach – Using a framework developed by Kern and Willcocks published in 2000, this paper investigates the case of a shared services arrangement and its relationships in the Municipality of Amsterdam using qualitative research.Findings – There are many mutually interrelated factors that need to be taken into account during the decision and design process of shared service arrangements. Antecedent conditions provide the basis for setting the objectives that the SSC needs to meet and determine the way the SSC is operationalized and designed in terms of its service and financial model, organizational structure, and communication mechanisms. In addition, this research also found that i...

Public‐private partnerships, outsourcing or shared service centres?

Purpose – Organizations are looking for different ways of sourcing their activities to acquire various benefits. The purpose of this paper is to compare the strategic intents and motives for shared service centres (SSCs), outsourcing and public‐private partnerships (PPPs) using three case studies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a combination of literature research and case study research. The case studies are analyzed using a framework for classifying the strategic intents.Findings – A large number of interrelated factors are found as drivers for selecting the various sourcing arrangements. It is found that the strategic intents underlying the decision to implement a PPP, SSC or outsourcing arrangements differ from each other. Outsourcing is mainly used to reduce costs for non‐core activities or to gain access to expertise otherwise out‐of‐reach and, while a shared services arrangement is selected when an organization wants to improve service levels and reduce costs at the same time. Finally, P...

Understanding IT governance for the operation of shared services in public service networks

Public organisations have started cooperating in public service networks to share services and in this way improve their service provision and simultaneously accomplish efficiency gains. The IT governance of shared services in a service network is a complicated endeavour, as it often involves multiple agencies having different objectives, resources, capabilities, processes and levels of IT sophistication. The aim of this research is to develop a better understanding of the IT governance of shared services in public service networks. Two case studies are analysed from a resource-based and a dynamic capability point of view. We found that IT governance mechanisms need to deal with the different characteristics of agencies and to balance customisation and commoditisation of services to accomplish efficiency benefits. The findings also indicate that the ability to share services in public networks and the accomplishment of the objectives of individual agencies within the network are influenced by the type of IT governance mechanisms.

Design Choices Underlying the Software as a Service (SaaS) Business Model from the User Perspective: Exploring the Fourth Wave of Outsourcing

Software as a Service (SaaS) can be viewed as the fourth wave of outsourcing. SaaS is a relatively new type of service delivery model in which a service provider delivers its services over the web to many users on a pay per use or period basis. In the scarce literature available, the SaaS business model is almost always analyzed from the perspective of the service provider perspective, and rarely from the user organization. Using the unified business model conceptual framework, two case studies are investigated to understand the design choices underlying the SaaS business model from the user organization perspective. The analyses on the business model dimensions provided insight into the differences between the case studies and helped to identify eight discriminating design choices that are important when designing SaaS business models. These include the (1) SaaS service characteristics, (2) SaaS value source, (3) SaaS user target group, (4) data architecture configuration and tenancy model, (5) SaaS governance and demand/supply management core competencies, (6) cloud deployment model, (7) SaaS integration and provider strategy and the (8) SaaS pricing structure. An appeal is made for more research into the impact of cloud business models.

Shared Services as a Collaboration Strategy and Arrangement in Public Service Networks

Public Organisations (POs) have been criticised for their bureaucratic and intrusive style of working - with issues such as red tape, low service levels and costs continually deteriorating the overall reputation of POs. In recent times POs have been encouraged to collaborate with each other in distributed and loosely coupled networks by making use of each others services, i.e. the sharing of services. The development of these networks is a complex endeavour because they contain several organisations whose developments are often out-of-sync and their resources and absorptive capacity is limited and diverse. This study uncovers and examines three shared services development projects. In each of the cases a different collaboration strategy was taken. Using the core competency and absorptive capacity theory the three arrangements are compared and linked to the starting situation. The findings show that development of shared service arrangements is influenced by path-dependent factors including the type of organisations involved, their relationships, its absorptive capacity and geographical location.

Factors influencing the shaping of shared services business models

Purpose – Shared services are often viewed as a single type of business model but in reality, shared services can be organized in different ways. The goal of this research is to understand the factors influencing the shaping of shared services business models. Design/methodology/approach – Inductive case oriented research is conducted by investigating three different types of shared services arrangements using Al-Debei and Avisons unified framework for business models. Findings – A total of 12 different factors were identified that influence the shape of shared services business models including the path dependency, legal/regulatory driver, customer orientation, target segment, strategic importance, ICT/business orientation, IT governance structure, change strategy, degree of outsourcing, integration potential, economic rationale and the business value. Research limitations/implications – The level of customization and standardization can influence the potential benefits that can be gained from bundling ...

Content Management Implemented as Shared Service: A Public Sector Case Study

Sharing services has gained the interest of governments to reduce costs. The basic idea is that services provided by one department can be provided to others with relatively few efforts. A new emerging trend is the implementation of content management (CM) shared services. As a new phenomenon, there is little understanding of this concept. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by investigating a public sector case study and analyzing the decision process concerning the introduction of a CM for Shared Service Centers (SSCs). The case is analyzed using a decision framework based on a multi-theory approach found in outsourcing literature. The differences with other types of SSCs are highlighted. The complexity of this arrangement originates from the need to manage content in the many parts of the organization and the involvement of many different roles. A CM SSC requires a holistic decision-making approach by balancing the management, technology and content dimensions carefully, as these dimensions influence the resulting arrangement and potential benefits.