Shared services not enough for CIOs?

A new survey from Ovum has revealed nearly half of all participating CIOs in the public sector across Europe believe savings from shared services would not be enough to make such initiatives beneficial for them.

49% of European respondents cited concerns over the beneficial impact shared services could deliver, compared to 46% in North America, and 29% in Asia-Pacific. The survey, also revealed many public sector organisations worry about "losing control of their business operations" as a result of moving to shared services.

Jessica Hawkins, Ovum analyst and author of the report, said much of the concern from CIOs over shared services is down to the traditional view of ownership - but that attitude is changing in the UK: "Pressure from the cuts is forcing these [UK] attitudes to be challenged to at least think about how things can be done differently. In regions such as APAC where the pressures aren't so tight there is still a desire to look at how to do things more efficiently and effectively and shared services could be an answer to that."

She added UK agencies are "increasingly recognising" the benefits shared services can be delivered, especially as organisations realise doing nothing will become increasingly difficult. "Whether this means getting over those cultural barriers of working with their neighbours or opting for a full outsource they will probably have to face the concerns and doubts that they have," said Hawkins. "Other regions aside from UK and Europe won't feel this pressure so acutely."

In an additional statement, Hawkins said, "The move to shared services does involve upheaval and invariably means changing software applications, which in turn can require system and data migration and all the complexity that this entails. Many agencies have the perception that there is not enough money to be saved to make this worthwhile."

"Changing the dynamics of service delivery is an emotive issue for public sector bodies and can cause them to fear that they are losing control of their key business operations...This is compounded by the prospect of job losses and the legal complexity of transferring staff to a shared services model," she added.

Hawkins revealed an expectation for the gap to widen between European organisations and their counterparts in North America and Asia-Pacific over the next two years, "when more European bodies will be prepared to make the move."