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Shared Services Roadblocks and Rewards Examined at Harvard Summit

June 25, 2009 By Chad Vander Veen

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Last week, government IT professionals from around the world, some coming from as far away as Nigeria and New Zealand, convened at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University to discuss how the public sector can better use shared services.

The summit, part of the Kennedy School's Leadership for a Networked World program, was an in-depth, two-day immersion into shared services -- what it is, how government can benefit and the obstacles to implementation. Jerry Mechling, faculty chair of the Leadership for a Networked World program, hosted the summit and offered insights as to why the time is right for government IT to adopt shared services.

The current economic crisis, Mechling said, is a window of opportunity for government agencies to move to a shared services environment. Mechling explained that shared services not only provide greater efficiency, but can also serve to reduce the number of workers being laid off and help answer President Barack Obama's call for greater transparency in government.

David Wilson, managing director for summit sponsor Accenture's State and Local Government Public Sector Finance and Administration Industry, said the back-office functions of government, which politicians and the public typically ignore, need executive support for a successful move to shared services. The trick, Wilson said, is to show both the executives and public why these functions are important.

"If you can align [shared services] to their political or business objectives, like keeping tuition at the same rate or not having to cut certain programs, I think that's how you get the executive and political interest in what is typically a very unsexy area," Wilson said.

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