Understanding Shared Services

Author(s):  
Suraya Miskon ◽  
Wasana Bandara ◽  
Erwin Fielt ◽  
Guy G. Gable

In a competitive environment, companies continuously innovate to offer superior services at lower costs. ‘Shared Services’ have been extensively adopted in practice as a means for improving organizational performance. Shared Services are considered most appropriate for support functions and are widely adopted in human resource management, finance and accounting, and more recently employed as an information systems (IS) function. As computer-based corporate information systems have become de facto and the backbone of administrative systems, the technical impediments to sharing have come down dramatically. As this trend continues, CIOs and IT professionals need a deeper understanding of the Shared Services phenomenon. Yet, analysis of IS academic literature reveals that Shared Services, though mentioned in more than 100 articles, has received little in depth attention. This paper investigates the current status of Shared Services in IS literature. The authors present a detailed review of literature from main IS journals and conferences. The paper concludes with a tentative operational definition, a list of perceived main objectives of Shared Services, and an agenda for related future research.

2012 ◽  
pp. 785-800
Author(s):  
Suraya Miskon ◽  
Wasana Bandara ◽  
Erwin Fielt ◽  
Guy G. Gable

In a competitive environment, companies continuously innovate to offer superior services at lower costs. ‘Shared Services’ have been extensively adopted in practice as a means for improving organizational performance. Shared Services are considered most appropriate for support functions and are widely adopted in human resource management, finance and accounting, and more recently employed as an information systems (IS) function. As computer-based corporate information systems have become de facto and the backbone of administrative systems, the technical impediments to sharing have come down dramatically. As this trend continues, CIOs and IT professionals need a deeper understanding of the Shared Services phenomenon. Yet, analysis of IS academic literature reveals that Shared Services, though mentioned in more than 100 articles, has received little in depth attention. This paper investigates the current status of Shared Services in IS literature. The authors present a detailed review of literature from main IS journals and conferences. The paper concludes with a tentative operational definition, a list of perceived main objectives of Shared Services, and an agenda for related future research.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 60-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suraya Miskon ◽  
Wasana Bandara ◽  
Erwin Fielt ◽  
Guy Gable

In a competitive environment, companies continuously innovate to offer superior services at lower costs. ‘Shared Services’ have been extensively adopted in practice as a means for improving organizational performance. Shared Services are considered most appropriate for support functions and are widely adopted in human resource management, finance and accounting, and more recently employed as an information systems (IS) function. As computer-based corporate information systems have become de facto and the backbone of administrative systems, the technical impediments to sharing have come down dramatically. As this trend continues, CIOs and IT professionals need a deeper understanding of the Shared Services phenomenon. Yet, analysis of IS academic literature reveals that Shared Services, though mentioned in more than 100 articles, has received little in depth attention. This paper investigates the current status of Shared Services in IS literature. The authors present a detailed review of literature from main IS journals and conferences. The paper concludes with a tentative operational definition, a list of perceived main objectives of Shared Services, and an agenda for related future research.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suraya Miskon ◽  
Wasana Bandara ◽  
Guy G. Gable ◽  
Erwin Fielt

Shared services is a prominent organizational arrangement for organizations, in particular for support functions. The success (or failure) of shared services is a critical concern as the move to shared services can entail large scale investment and involve fundamental organizational change. The Higher Education (HE) sector is particularly well poised to benefit from shared services as there is a need to improve organizational performance and strong potential from sharing. Through a multiple case study of shared services experiences in HE, this study identifies ten important antecedents of shared services success: (1) Understanding of shared services; (2) Organizational environment; (3) Top management support; (4) IT environment; (5) Governance; (6) Process centric view; (7) Implementation strategy; (8) Project management; (9) Change management; and (10) Communication. The study then develops a preliminary model of shared services success that addresses the interdependencies between the success factors. As the first empirical success model for shared services, it provides valuable guidance to practice and future research.


Author(s):  
С. В. Гуцыкова ◽  
Н. Б. Баканова

В статье рассматривается психологическое понятие вовлеченности и его значение при проектировании корпоративных информационных систем. Традиционно понятие вовлеченности применяется для предсказания различных обусловленных данным феноменом последствий в виде эффективности деятельности сотрудников и установок рабочего поведения, что чрезвычайно важно в условиях удаленной работы. Учет вовлеченности способен повысить удовлетворенность от трудовой деятельности в процессе удаленного взаимодействия с корпоративными информационными системами, объединить работников организации вокруг корпоративных ценностей, в позитивном плане отразиться на эффективности индивидуальной деятельности и деятельности организации в целом. Данная статья носит постановочный характер, учитывая неоднозначность сведений о понятии вовлеченности, ее разных трактовках и уровнях анализа, представленных в работах отечественных и зарубежных психологов. В условиях недостаточной разработанности понятия «вовлеченность», не представляется возможным его эффективное использование при проектировании и разработке распределенных информационных систем. Таким образом от проработанности данного понятия в конечном итоге зависят не только эффективность проектирования и успешность реализации информационной системы, но и эффективность индивидуального труда и эффективность деятельности организаций. Необходимо уделять внимание таким значимым моментам, как сохранение психологического здоровья и психологического благополучия сотрудников, которые отражаются на эффективности деятельности всей организации в целом. Доработка концептуального понятия вовлеченности крайне значима для ее учета при проектировании корпоративных информационных систем. На логическом уровне проектирования корпоративных информационных систем психологическое понятие вовлеченности может быть учтено в следующих моделях информационной системы: структурная модель, информационная модель и функциональная модель. The article discusses the psychological concept of involvement and its significance in the design of corporate information systems. Traditionally, the concept of engagement is used to predict various consequences of this phenomenon in the form of employee performance and work behavior attitudes, which is extremely important in a remote work environment. Accounting for engagement can increase job satisfaction in the process of remote interaction with corporate information systems, unite employees of an organization around corporate values, and positively affect the effectiveness of individual activities and the activities of the organization as a whole. This article is of a staged nature, given the ambiguity of information about the concept of involvement, its different interpretations and levels of analysis presented in the works of Russian and foreign psychologists. In the conditions of insufficient elaboration of the concept of "involvement", it is not possible to effectively use it in the design and development of distributed information systems. Thus, the elaboration of this concept ultimately depends not only on the design efficiency and the success of the implementation of the information system, but also on the effectiveness of individual labor and the effectiveness of organizations. It is necessary to pay attention to such significant points as the preservation of the psychological health and psychological well-being of employees, which affect the efficiency of the entire organization as a whole. Refinement of the concept of engagement is extremely important for taking it into account in the design of corporate information systems. At the logical level of designing corporate information systems, the psychological concept of involvement can be taken into account in the following models of the information system: structural model, information model and functional model.


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