But cost-cutting aside, the take up of shared services may get a further boost from the PSN (public services network). It is anticipated that as many as 80% of public sector employees, or four million individuals, will be using the PSN by the end of 2014, and the two key frameworks that govern the network of networks are expected imminently.
The government hopes the PSN will provide a significant support for the shared services approach, helping organisations to change the way they work together. If that vision is to become reality, there could be more than one bump in the road, according to chief information officers (CIOs).
Linda Herbert, director of IT at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), recognises the timing of the PSN is expedient.
"There are severe cuts taking place in relation to government budgets and all public sector CIOs will have to think carefully about how shared resources can be used," she says. "While you need the capability, you also need a real reason to use a shared service, and the timing of the initiative could potentially drive change at a strategic level."
She says the keys to success for the PSN, as with other public shared services initiatives, are likely to be security and data protection. Herbert says a well-structured and supported PSN could promote smarter working, while simultaneously reducing service duplication and a silo-based approach to information storage.
"The culture must be right," she says. "There are a lot of things that could be done. Long-term thinking with all partners, including some key incremental steps, would really help and avoid the problems associated with the big bang introduction of networks and systems.
"It's important to break down traditional IT barriers and to think about the customer up front. It always helps to think about how the technology will meet a required business outcome."
Herbert remains unsure as to whether the PSN will provide a shortcut to the wider take up of shared services, highlighting that the amount of effort required to create the connected use of resources does not always bring instant savings.
Phil Corrin, St Helens and Knowsley health informatics deputy CIO, believes that while good shared arrangements can bring savings, such agreements are very tough to get right, particularly around issues of governance and the ability for partners to create strong relationships.
"Success means all stakeholders need to be on board," says Corrin. "Interested parties inherently want their own technology set-up and aren't necessarily keen on sharing." St Helens and Knowsley IT staff have worked hard to ensure projects, such as a recently introduced digital records system based on EMC's VMAX technology, help bring benefits for all parties.
"We sometimes feel like the glue that holds stakeholders together," says Corrin. "But we've also found that integration is the best way to provide healthcare information and services to users."
COPFS' Herbert believes working with partners – in the way envisaged through the PSN – can help public sector CIOs to identify opportunities for change and make processes more efficient.
"It's better to attempt lower-level connections between organisations, to get people working collaboratively and to recognise that sharing can help individuals on both sides of the agreement," she says.
For Jos Creese, Hampshire county council CIO, the PSN is a shared service in itself. Hampshire is onto its second generation of PSN and, he told the recent all party parliamentary group on outsourcing and shared services it is "an example of a highly successful shared service", with the district, county and borough councils all onboard, along with the unitary authorities, fire and rescue services and others.
Acccording to Creese, the fate of shared services and technology are intertwined for good or ill. "The technology is often an enabler for other shared services, or indeed it can be a barrier to them... if you do not have the technology infrastructure in place that allows integrated and shared communications, securely shared systems that allow joint working, it is very difficult to do shared services at all."
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Mark Samuels
Quelle/Source: The Guardian, 16.03.2012
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