1. Implement a Shared Services Model
Look before you leap; assess your internal capabilities and develop a comprehensive plan before adopting a shared services model.
Info-Tech's products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© Info-Tech Research Group

2. Our understanding of the problem
CIOs/IT Directors
Infrastructure Managers
Project Managers
Assess whether your organization is ready to implement a shared services model.
Make the case to adopt a shared services model.
Structure your shared services model and service offerings.
Develop a plan to implement the model.
CFOs
Internal Auditors
Evaluate the financial implications of moving to a shared services models and make the financial case to implement the model.
Understand the risks and barriers involved in implementing a shared services model.

3. Executive Summary
Your IT group has excess capacity, superior capabilities, and peers that require similar IT services.
Your organization is seeking to leverage this capacity and your superior capabilities to reduce costs and improve overall performance by implementing a shared services model.
Implementing a shared services model needs to be viewed as more than just extending a current service to other sites. The organization providing services essentially turns into a vendor. As a vendor, think of the IT service you’re offering as the “product.”
There are people, process, and technology capability pre-requisites to successfully become a shared services provider. These capabilities are not typical for the average IT shop.
Shared services doesn’t need to be a zero-sum game. The best idea may be to adopt a competency-based shared services model.
Implementing a shared services model is difficult. Becoming a shared services provider is comparable to becoming a vendor and most IT groups don’t have the capabilities to easily make the transition.
Adopting a shared services model doesn’t always reduce costs; simply combining the operations of two IT organizations doesn’t necessarily result in economies of scale and cost efficiencies.
Shared services can be a sensitive topic with high exposure to cultural and people-related barriers.
Before jumping into the project, assess your customer requirements and your current people, process, and technology capabilities to assess whether your organization is ready to implement a shared services model.
Understand the financial implications of moving to a shared services model prior to implementing. Make sure there is a strong case for implementation.
Follow this blueprint to help you carefully plan and execute your shared services implementation, taking changes around people, processes, and technologies into account.

4. Best-Practice Toolkit Guided Implementations
Implement a shared services model – project overview (four phases)
Define the opportunity and product
Develop your product vision and roadmap
Realize the product
Support and continuously improve
Best-Practice Toolkit
1. Identify your main drivers 2. Assess organizational readiness 3. Assess customers’ current IT state and requirements 4. Determine if you can meet customer needs 5. Assess your people and process capabilities 6. Determine your cost to serve 7. Make the financial case
1. Create your long-term vision 2. Develop the business case 3. Establish your project success metrics
1. Build your service catalog 2. Map out your shared services processes 3. Re-assess your ability to meet your customers’ requirements 4. Define your SOPs 5. Structure your service show-backs or chargebacks 6. Align staff roles with processes 7. Complete the technology integration process 8. Map out the initial test
1. Analyze internal shared services metrics 2. Build an effective customer communication plan 3. Develop a process for continuous improvement
Guided Implementations
Scoping call.
Assess your customer requirements and internal capabilities.
Decide whether to proceed with the project.
Review your long-term plan.
Complete the business case.
Discuss the supporting people, processes, and technology.
Finalize the test launch.
Analyze project launch and review communication process.
Establish steps for continuous improvement.
Onsite Workshop
Module 1:
Define the opportunity and product
Module 2:
Develop your product vision and roadmap
Module 3:
Realize the product
Module 4:
Support and continuously improve
Phase 1 Results:
Completed assessment of customer requirements.
Go or no-go decision.
Phase 2 Results:
Long-term roadmap.
Project success metrics.
Business case document.
Phase 3 Results:
Service catalog.
Set of SOPs.
Integration of people, processes, and technology.
Phase 4 Results:
Analysis of initial project launch.
Process for continuous improvement.

5. Workshop overview
Contact your account representative or for more information.
This workshop can be deployed as either a four or five day engagement depending on the level of preparation completed by the client prior to the facilitator arriving onsite.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Preparation
Workshop Day
Working Session
Workshop Preparation
Perform a high-level assessment of the organization’s services.
Invite relevant stakeholders to attend the workshop.
Send workshop agenda to all participants.
Morning Itinerary
Discuss and document project drivers, challenges, and objectives.
Assess the opportunity based on customer needs.
Afternoon Itinerary
Perform a full assessment of your customers’ requirements.
Assess your organization’s people, process, and technology capabilities.
Work through the creation of a long-term plan and identify future state objectives for your shared services model.
Create and finalize the business case document.
Develop an exhaustive list of project success metrics.
Design your user-facing service catalog.
Map your processes and develop a structure for your show-backs or chargebacks.
Work through the Data Center Data Collection Workbook to map the technology integration process.
Identify each of the steps in the initial testing phase.
Workshop Debrief
Debrief the plan for your shared services model rollout.
Begin to chart a plan for continuous monitoring.
Next Steps
Create a schedule to document the continuous monitoring of your shared services.
The light blue slides at the end of each section highlight the key activities and exercises that will be completed during the engagement with our analyst team.

6. Phase 1:Define the opportunity and product
Develop your product vision and roadmap
Realize the product
Support and continuously improve

7. Phase 1 outline
Call or for more information.
Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.
Guided Implementation 1: Define the opportunity and product
Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 4
Step 1.1: Scoping Call
Step 1.2: Assess your customer requirements and internal capabilities
Step 1.3: Decide whether to proceed with the project
Start with an analyst kick off call:
Discuss your drivers for implementing shared services.
Scope the project and provide some context to kick off your series of calls.
Review findings with analyst:
Discuss your customer requirements and your ability to meet these requirements.
Review your completed shared services assessment tool.
Finalize phase deliverable:
Discuss whether adopting a shared services model will provide value in the near future.
Decide whether to proceed with the project.
Scope your service catalog.
Then complete these activities…
Assess your customer requirements and evaluate your technical ability to meet customer requirements.
Assess your internal people and process capabilities.
Assess your customer’s alternatives.
Determine your cost to serve and make the financial case for shared services.
With these tools & templates:
Shared Services Assessment Tool
Shared Services Implementation Business Case

8. Providing shared services means more than just extending your current services; think of it as a product offering
IT Shared Services: a central IT unit that supports and supplies a service for other “customer” organizations. These “customers” can be either within the organization or outside of the organization.
A primary goal of a shared services delivery model is to improve efficiencies by capitalizing on the strengths of IT groups.
Shared services as a “product”
Shared services needs to be viewed as more than just as an extension of a current service. For example, when implementing an ERP shared service model for another internal organization, simply adding users isn’t sufficient. Shared services requires a fundamental change in IT service delivery. When moving to a shared services model, IT becomes a service provider.
As a service provider, think of the IT service you’re offering as the “product.”
Preparing to implement a shared service model will require you to do the following:
V.2
1. Define the opportunity and product
2. Develop your product vision and roadmap
3. Realize the product
4. Support and continuously improve the product

9. A quick test can help you gauge whether your shared services product is worth pursuing
Before you define the details of your shared services product, ask yourself these three questions to gauge whether this project is worth your time. 1
Are you solving an unmet need?
The number one question entrepreneurs are asked is “What problem are you trying to solve?” Similarly, your shared services product should solve an existing problem or unmet need. For example, is there a specific need in your industry that existing service providers can’t accommodate? 2
Will your offering improve the method users access or demand the service?
For example, if the target customers are accessing the help desk service through a telephone number, will your product offer a more effective channel or process, such as a self-service ticketing system?
Will you be providing enhanced service capabilities that your customers can’t currently deliver on their own? 3
Depending on your capabilities, you may offer enhanced services that are attractive to the customer.
For example, perhaps your customer isn’t large or capable enough to have an IT asset management practice that encompasses processes from procurement to disposal and that’s something your organization has the scale and capacity to provide cost-effectively.
If you could not answer “Yes” to any of the above three questions, you should reconsider your pursuit of providing shared services since your customers likely have better alternatives in the market. Before you proceed, you should understand where you fit in the market and what value you will bring to the customer.

10. Identify the benefits of moving to a shared services model
1.1
Identify the benefits of moving to a shared services model
Phase 1 Roadmap: Define the opportunity and product
In this Step
Tools and Templates
Shared Services Implementation Business Case Template
GI Calls
Scoping Call
Activities
Identify your organization’s main drivers for moving to a shared services model.
Identify your organizational goals and benefits for shared services.
Determine whether shared services are in your immediate future.
1.1 Identify the benefits of moving to a shared services model
1.2 Assess your customer requirements and determine whether you’re capable of meeting them
1.3 Assess your people and process capabilities
1.4 Identify whether an attractive opportunity exists and scope your service catalog

11. Shared services is an attractive model that can result in economies of scale and improved performance
The business opportunities
Economies of scale
Cost savings
Increased level of service provision
Business unit focus and efficiency
High levels of operational costs
Improved service levels
Focus on providing better customer service
Efficient service delivery procedure
Unified organizational control
Increased level of business focus
Improved regulatory control
Common Organizational Drivers
Reduced cost of service
Development of common practices that are standard across organization
Enhanced service delivery
Increased focus on customer satisfaction
Improved regulatory control and compliance posture
Standardized process practices
Increased efficiency
Business unit specialization
Organizational Benefits

12. Info-Tech Research Group Helps IT Professionals To:
Quickly get up to speed with new technologies
Make the right technology purchasing decisions – fast
Deliver critical IT projects, on time and within budget
Manage business expectations
Justify IT spending and prove the value of IT
Train IT staff and effectively manage an IT department
Sign up for free trial membership to get practical
solutions for your IT challenges
“Info-Tech helps me to be proactive instead of reactive – a cardinal rule in a stable and leading edge IT environment.
- ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co., LP
Toll Free: