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56-537: Shared services is similar to collaboration that might take place between different organizations such as a Hospital Trust or a Police Force. For example, adjacent Trusts might decide to collaborate by merging their HR or IT functions. There are two arguments for sharing services: The ‘less of a common resource' argument and the ‘efficiency through industrialization' argument. The former is ‘obvious': if you have fewer managers, IT systems, buildings etc; if you use less of some resource, it will reduce costs. The second argument

112-422: A business and delivering services to internal customers at a cost, quality, and timeliness that is competitive with alternatives. A shared service can take a variety of different commercial structures. The basic commercial structures include: It is sometimes argued that there are three basic location variations for a shared service including: This is not just to take advantage of wage arbitrage but to appreciate

168-547: A clear baseline of costs and contained several uncertainties, such as the initial expenditure required and the time frame for the savings. There are reports of UK government shared service centres failing to realise savings, such as the Department of Transport's project, described as 'stupendous incompetence' by the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee. The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS), has implemented shared services for

224-510: A close look at the technology services that their IT departments provide to internal customers, evaluating where it makes sense to provide specific technology components as a shared service. E-mail and scanning operations were obvious early candidates; many organizations with document-intensive operations are deploying scanning centers as a shared service. Many large organizations, in both the public and private sectors, are now considering deploying enterprise content management (ECM) technology as

280-410: A company should only seek to subcontract in those areas in which it demonstrated no special ability. The business strategy outlined by his slogan recommended that companies should take advantage of a specialist provider's knowledge and economies of scale to improve performance and achieve the service needed. In 2009, by way of recognition, Peter Drucker posthumously received a significant honor when he

336-419: A different country from the one where the software will be used. The global software R&D services market, as contrasted to information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO), is rather young and currently is at a relatively early stage of development. Canada, India, Ireland , and Israel were the four leading countries as of 2003. Although many countries have participated in

392-479: A government outsourcing arrangement poses difficulties. There are many outsourcing models, with variations by country, year and industry. Japanese companies often outsource to China, particularly to formerly Japanese-occupied cities. German companies have outsourced to Eastern European countries with German-language affiliation, such as Poland and Romania . French companies outsource to North Africa for similar reasons. For Australian IT companies, Indonesia

448-446: A half page cartoon showing someone who had just ordered a pizza online, and was seeking help to download it. Step-in rights allow the client or a nominated third party the right to step-in and intervene, in particular to directly operate the outsourced services or to appoint a new operator. Circumstances where step-in rights may be contractually invoked may include supplier insolvency , a force majeure event which prevents or impedes

504-424: A key component of a move to shared services and may include redundancies and changes of work practices. It is claimed that transformation often results in a better quality of work life for employees although there are few case studies to back this up . Shared services are more than just centralization or consolidation of similar activities in one location. Shared services can mean running these service activities like

560-630: A limited, short-term basis, may also be described as outsourcing. Outsourcing includes both foreign and domestic contracting, and therefore should not be confused with offshoring which is relocating a business process to another country but does not imply or preclude another company. In practice, the concepts can be intertwined, i.e. offshore outsourcing , and can be individually or jointly, partially or completely reversed, as described by terms such as reshoring , inshoring , and insourcing . Global labor arbitrage can provide major financial savings from lower international labor rates, which could be

616-577: A major motivation for offshoring. Cost savings from economies of scale and specialization can also motivate outsourcing, even if not offshoring. Since about 2015 indirect revenue benefits have increasingly become additional motivators. Another motivation is speed to market. To make this work, a new process was developed: "outsource the outsourcing process". Details of managing DuPont 's chief information officer Cinda Hallman 's $ 4 billion 10-year outsourcing contract with Computer Sciences Corporation and Accenture were outsourced, thus avoiding "inventing

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672-725: A major source for the advantages of a highly educated labor force, a large bilingual population, stable democratic government, and similar time zones as the U.S. It takes only a few hours to travel between Costa Rica and U.S. Companies such as Intel , Procter & Gamble , HP, Gensler , Amazon and Bank of America have big operations in Costa Rica. Unlike outsourced manufacturing, outsourced white collar workers have flextime and can choose their working hours, and for which companies to work. Clients benefit from remote work , reduced office space, management salary, and employee benefits as these individuals are independent contractors . Ending

728-478: A means for setting performance targets that are met either through incremental performance improvements or transformational change. - Strategic: with a focus on a long-term horizon; and - Tactical: with a focus on the short and medium term 2. To focus an organization on becoming world class with processes that deliver the highest levels of performance that are better than those of its peer group. The private sector has been moving towards shared services since

784-516: A number of departments and functions. For example, IT Assist (the ICT Shared Service Centre) provides common infrastructure and desktop services to NICS staff in the office, at home or when mobile working. The government of Canada instituted Shared Services Canada on August 4, 2011, with the objective of consolidating its data centres, networks and email systems. This followed a tendency to centralize IT services which had been followed by

840-481: A process if we'd done it in-house". A term subsequently developed to describe this is midsourcing . Outsourcing can offer greater budget flexibility and control by allowing organizations to pay for the services and business functions they need, when they need them. It is often perceived to reduce hiring and training specialized staff, to make available specialized expertise, and to decrease capital, operating expenses, and risk. "Do what you do best and outsource

896-505: A service that was previously internal to the buying organization, typically leading to redundancies and re-organization. There is an ongoing debate about the advantages of shared services over outsourcing . It is sometimes assumed that a joint venture between a government department and a commercial organization is an example of shared services. The joint venture involves the creation of a separate legal commercial entity (jointly owned), which provides profit to its shareholders. Traditionally

952-599: A set of regional Health Boards to a unified national structure, the Health Services Executive. Within this structure there will be a National Shared Services Organisation, based on the model developed at the former Eastern Health Shared Services, where procurement, HR, finance and ICT services were provided to health agencies in the Eastern Region of Ireland on a business-to business basis. Organizations that have centralized their IT functions have now begun to take

1008-612: A shared service, benchmarking and measurement is considered by some as a necessity. Benchmarking is the comparison of the service provision usually against best in class . The measurement occurs by using agreed key performance indicators (KPIs). Although the amount of KPIs chosen differs greatly it is generally accepted that fewer than 10 carefully chosen KPIs will deliver the best results. Organizations do attempt to define benchmarks for processes and business operations. Benchmarking can be used to achieve different goals including: 1. To drive performance improvements using benchmarks as

1064-406: A shared service. Outsourcing Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes , that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another. The term outsourcing , which came from the phrase outside resourcing , originated no later than 1981 at

1120-509: A third of all participants were able to generate cost savings of 20% or greater from their SSOs. At NASA, the 2006 switch to a shared services model is realizing nearly $ 20 million of savings annually. Further, by the end of 2015, the NASA Shared Services Center is expected to save the organization a total of over $ 200 million, according to NASA's Director of Service Delivery. A large-scale cultural and process transformation can be

1176-795: A time when industrial jobs in the United States were being moved overseas, contributing to the economic and cultural collapse of small, industrial towns. In some contexts, the term smartsourcing is also used. The concept, which The Economist says has "made its presence felt since the time of the Second World War ", often involves the contracting out of a business process (e.g., payroll processing, claims processing), operational, and/or non-core functions, such as manufacturing, facility management , call center /call center support. The practice of handing over control of public services to private enterprises ( privatization ), even if conducted on

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1232-412: Is annulled or suspended. If a contract has a clause granting step-in rights, then there is a right, though not an obligation, to take over a task that is not going well, or even the entire project. When and How are important: "What is the process for stepping-in" must be clearly defined in the collateral warranty . Private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which

1288-500: Is disputed however by management thinker Professor John Seddon , who argues that the measurement known as 'unit cost' tells you nothing about overall costs. Overall costs include ' failure demand ', which is defined as a failure to do something or do something right for the customer. The public sector has taken note of the benefits derived in the private sector and continues to strive for best practice. The United States and Australia among others have had shared services in government since

1344-427: Is one of the major choice of offshoring destination. Near-shore location, common time zone and adequate IT work force are the reasons for offshoring IT services to Indonesia. Another approach is to differentiate between tactical and strategic outsourcing models. Tactical models include: Strategic consultancy includes for business process improvement . When offshore outsourcing knowledge work, firms heavily rely on

1400-612: Is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit , rather than being owned by the government . The private sector employs most of the workforce in some countries. In private sector, activities are guided by the motive to earn money, i.e. operate by capitalist standards. A 2013 study by the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group ) identified that 90 percent of jobs in developing countries are in

1456-466: Is pure R&D or run-of-the-mill IT outsourcing. Focusing on software quality metrics is a good way to maintain track of how well a project is performing. Globalization and complex supply chains , along with greater physical distance between higher management and the production-floor employees often requires a change in management methodologies, as inspection and feedback may not be as direct and frequent as in internal processes. This often requires

1512-406: Is when on-site hardware interacts with outside identity services. This contrasts with an "all in-the-cloud" service scenario, where the identity service is built, hosted and operated by the service provider in an externally hosted, cloud computing infrastructure. Offshore software R&D is the provision of software development services by a supplier (whether external or internal) located in

1568-415: Is ‘efficiency through industrialization’. This argument assumes that efficiencies follow from specialization and standardization – resulting in the creation of ‘front' and ‘back' offices. The typical method is to simplify, standardize and then centralize, using an IT 'solution' as the means. Shared services is different from the model of outsourcing , which is where an external third party is paid to provide

1624-589: The 2016 U.S. presidential election "the most disruptive change agent for the outsourcing industry", especially the renewed "invest in America" goal highlighted in campaigning, but the magazine tepidly reversed direction in 2019 as to the outcome for employment. In the case of armament acquisition, section 323 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2014 requires military personnel "to solicit information from all U.S.-owned arsenals regarding

1680-566: The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals gave recognition to Electronic Data Systems Corporation's Morton H. Meyerson who, in 1967, proposed the business model that eventually became known as outsourcing. The growth of offshoring of IT-enabled services, although not universally accepted, both to subsidiaries and to outside companies (offshore outsourcing) is linked to the availability of large amounts of reliable and affordable communication infrastructure following

1736-564: The U.S. in 2007, which could exceed 400 times more than average workers—a gap 20 times bigger than it was in 1965, is not a factor. Other reasons include reducing and controlling operating costs, improving company focus, gaining access to world-class capabilities, tax credits, freeing internal resources for other purposes, streamlining or increasing efficiency for time-consuming functions, and maximizing use of external resources. For small businesses, contracting/subcontracting/"outsourcing" might be done to improve work-life balance . Following

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1792-412: The adding of management layers in the 1950s and 1960s to support expansion for the sake of economy of scale, corporations found that agility and added profits could be obtained by focusing on core strengths; the 1970s and 1980s were the beginnings of what later was named outsourcing. Kodak 's 1989 "outsourcing most of its information technology systems" was followed by others during the 1990s. In 2013,

1848-463: The area of call-center outsourcing, especially when combined with offshoring, agents may speak with different linguistic features such as accents , word use and phraseology, which may impede comprehension. In 1979, Nobel laureate Oliver E. Williamson wrote that the governance structure is the "framework within which the integrity of a transaction is decided", and that "because contracts are varied and complex, governance structures vary with

1904-416: The assimilation of new communication methods such as voice over IP , instant messaging , and issue tracking systems , new time management methods such as time tracking software , and new cost- and schedule-assessment tools such as cost estimation software . The term "transition methodology" describes the process of migrating knowledge, systems, and operating capabilities between the two sides. In

1960-655: The availability of technical personnel at offshore locations. One of the challenges in offshoring engineering innovation is a reduction in quality. Co-sourcing is a hybrid of internal staff supplemented by an external service provider. Co-sourcing can minimize sourcing risks, increase transparency, clarity and lend toward better control than fully outsourced. Co-sourcing services can supplement internal audit staff with specialized skills such as information risk management or integrity services, or help during peak periods, or similarly for other areas such as software development or human resources. Identity management co-sourcing

2016-521: The bank. Richard Baldwin 's 2006 The Great Unbundling work was followed in 2012 by Globalization's Second Acceleration (the Second Unbundling) and in 2016 by The Great Convergence: Information Technology and the New Globalization . It is here, rather than in manufacturing, that the bits economy can advance in ways that the economy of atoms and things cannot: an early 1990s Newsweek ran

2072-612: The beginning of the 1980s. Large organizations such as the BBC , BP , Bristol Myers Squibb , Ford , GE , HP , Pfizer , Rolls-Royce , ArcelorMittal , and SAP are operating them with great success. According to the English Institute of Chartered Accountants, more than 30% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies have implemented a shared-service center, and are reporting cost savings in their general accounting functions of up to 46%. The conventional accounting practice used to generate these figures

2128-559: The capability of that arsenal to fulfill the manufacturing requirement" when undertaking a make-or-buy analysis. Furthermore, there are growing legal requirements for data protection , where obligations and implementation details must be understood by both sides. This includes dealing with customer rights. UK government policy notes that certain services must remain in-house, citing the development of policy , stewardship of tax spend and retention of certain critical knowledge as examples. Guidance states that specific criteria must govern

2184-508: The contract between the client and the suppliers, fraud cases have been reported. In April 2005, a high-profile case involved the theft of $ 350,000 from four Citibank customers when call-center workers acquired the passwords to customer accounts and transferred the money to their own accounts opened under fictitious names. Citibank did not find out about the problem until the American customers noticed discrepancies with their accounts and notified

2240-542: The development of a shared-service organization (SSO) or shared-service centre (SSC) within an organization is an attempt to reduce costs (often attempted through economies of scale ), standardized processes (through centralization). A global Service Center Benchmark study carried out by the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) and the Hackett Group, which surveyed more than 250 companies, found that only about

2296-452: The early 21st century. The digital workforce of countries like India and China are only paid a fraction of what would be minimum wage in the United States. On average, software engineers are getting paid between 250,000 and 1,500,000 rupees (US$ 4,000 to US$ 23,000) in India as opposed to $ 40,000–$ 100,000 in countries such as the U.S. and Canada . Closer to the U.S., Costa Rica has become

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2352-758: The effect of what looks like outsourcing from one side and insourcing from the other side can be unexpected; The New York Times reported in 2001 that "6.4 million Americans .. worked for foreign companies as of 2001, [but] more jobs are being outsourced than" [the reverse]. While U.S. companies do not outsource to reduce high top level executive or managerial costs, they primarily outsource to reduce peripheral and "non-core" business expenses. Further reasons are higher taxes, high energy costs, and excessive government regulation or mandates. Mandated benefits like social security , Medicare , and safety protection (e.g. Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations) are also motivators. By contrast, executive pay in

2408-525: The environment than the minimum that is legally required of them. There can be negative effects from the private sector. In the early 1980s, the Corrections Corporation of America pioneered the idea of running prisons for a profit. Today, corporate-run prisons hold eight percent of America's inmates. Since it is from the private sector, their main priority is not rehabilitation, but profit. This has resulted in many human rights violations across

2464-573: The identification of such services, and that "everything else" could potentially be outsourced. Inflation, high domestic interest rates, and economic growth pushed India's IT salaries 10–15%, making some jobs relatively "too" expensive, compared to other offshoring destinations. Areas for advancing within the value chain included research and development, equity analysis, tax-return processing, radiological analysis, and medical transcription . Although offshoring initially focused on manufacturing, white-collar offshoring/outsourcing has grown rapidly since

2520-459: The late 1990s. However, the failures of these projects are increasingly being reported by the press and exposed by opposition politicians. The UK government under a central drive to efficiency following from the Gershon Review are working to an overall plan for realizing the benefits of shared services. The Cabinet Office has established a team specifically tasked with the role of accelerating

2576-618: The nature of the transaction". University of Tennessee researchers have been studying complex outsourcing relationships since 2003. Emerging thinking regarding strategic outsourcing is focusing on creating a contract structure in which the parties have a vested interest in managing what are often highly complex business arrangements in a more collaborative, aligned, flexible, and credible way. Reduced security, sometimes related to lower loyalty may occur, even when 'outsourced' staff change their legal status but not their desk. While security and compliance issues are supposed to be addressed through

2632-471: The offshore outsourcing of software development, their involvement in co-sourced and outsourced Research & Development (R&D) was somewhat limited. Canada, the second largest by 2009, had 21%. As of 2018, the top three were deemed by one "research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists" as China, India and Israel." Gartner Group adds in Russia , but does not make clear whether this

2688-403: The outsourced service provision, where the client believes that there is a substantial risk to the provision of the services, or where performance fails to meet a defined critical level of service. Suitable clauses in a contract may provide for the outsourced service provider to pay any additional costs which are faced by the client and specify that the provider's obligation to provide the services

2744-602: The private sector. In free enterprise countries, such as the United States , the private sector is wider, and the state places fewer constraints on firms. In countries with more government authority, such as China , the public sector makes up most of the economy. States legally regulate the private sector. Businesses operating within a country must comply with the laws in that country. In some cases, usually involving multinational corporations that can pick and choose their suppliers and locations based on their perception of

2800-512: The provinces of British Columbia , Québec , and Ontario , as well as the federal government of the United States of America and some states like Texas. PriceWaterhouseCoopers recommended integrating government data centres in a report ordered by Public Works and Government Services Canada, revealed in December 2011. In the Republic of Ireland , the health service nationally has been reorganized from

2856-458: The regulatory environment, local state regulations have resulted in uneven practices within one company. For example, workers in one country may benefit from strong labour unions , while workers in another country have very weak laws supporting labour unions, even though they work for the same employer. In some cases, industries and individual businesses choose self-regulation by applying higher standards for dealing with their workers, customers, or

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2912-459: The rest" has become an internationally recognized business tagline first "coined and developed" in the 1990s by management consultant Peter Drucker . The slogan was primarily used to advocate outsourcing as a viable business strategy. Drucker began explaining the concept of "outsourcing" as early as 1989 in his Wall Street Journal article entitled "Sell the Mailroom". From Drucker's perspective,

2968-525: The take up and developing the strategy for all government departments to converge and consolidate. The savings potential of this transformation in the UK Public Sector was initially estimated by the Cabinet Office at £1.4bn per annum (20% of the estimated cost of HR and Finance functions). The National Audit Office (United Kingdom) in its November 2007 report pointed out that this £1.4bn figure lacked

3024-464: The talents of particular economies in delivering specific service offerings. The difficulty with this argument is that near-shore and off-shore are normally associated with the outsourcing model and are difficult to reconcile with the notion of an internally shared service as distinct from an externally purchased service. Clearly, the use of off-shore facilities by a government department is not an example of shared services. In establishing and running

3080-472: The telecommunication and Internet expansion of the late 1990s. Services making use of low-cost countries included: In the early 21st century, businesses increasingly outsourced to suppliers outside their own country, sometimes referred to as offshoring or offshore outsourcing . Other options subsequently emerged including: nearshoring, crowdsourcing , multisourcing , strategic alliances / strategic partnerships , strategic outsourcing. Forbes considered

3136-495: Was inducted into the Outsourcing Hall of Fame for his outstanding work in the field. The biggest difference between outsourcing and in-house provision is with regards to the difference in ownership: outsourcing usually presupposes the integration of business processes under a different ownership, over which the client business has minimal or no control. This requires the use of outsourcing relationship management . Sometimes

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