What are Shared Services?
Shared services represent a strategic business model where common functions across multiple departments or business units are consolidated into a centralized organization. This approach transforms traditional siloed operations into a more efficient, cost-effective structure that delivers standardized services to internal customers. Common shared services include human resources, finance, IT support, procurement, and administrative functions. By centralizing these operations, organizations can achieve significant cost reductions, improve service quality, and enhance operational consistency across the enterprise.
Benefits of Implementing Shared Services
The implementation of shared services delivers numerous advantages that make it an attractive option for organizations seeking operational excellence. Cost reduction is often the primary driver, with organizations typically achieving 15-30% savings through economies of scale and elimination of duplicate processes. Improved service quality results from specialized teams focusing on specific functions, leading to enhanced expertise and standardized best practices across the organization.
- Enhanced scalability: Shared services can easily adapt to business growth or changes in demand without proportional increases in overhead costs.
- Better resource utilization: Specialized teams and consolidated technology platforms maximize efficiency and reduce waste.
- Improved compliance: Centralized processes ensure consistent adherence to regulatory requirements and company policies.
- Access to talent: Larger, specialized teams can attract and retain higher-skilled professionals than dispersed departmental functions.
- Technology optimization: Consolidated systems reduce complexity and improve data consistency across the organization.
Key Phases of Shared Services Implementation
Successful shared services implementation requires a structured, phased approach that carefully manages the transition from current state to future operating model. The process typically begins with a comprehensive assessment and planning phase where organizations evaluate existing processes, identify consolidation opportunities, and develop a detailed implementation roadmap. This is followed by service design, where new operating models, governance structures, and service level agreements are established.
The technology setup phase involves implementing or upgrading systems to support centralized operations, while the organizational transition phase manages change management, staff transfers, and new role definitions. Pilot testing allows organizations to validate the new model on a smaller scale before full deployment, and the final rollout phase completes the transition with ongoing monitoring and optimization.
Critical Success Factors
Several factors are essential for successful shared services implementation. Strong executive sponsorship ensures adequate resources and helps overcome organizational resistance to change. Effective change management addresses cultural shifts and helps employees adapt to new ways of working. Clear governance structures define roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes for the new operating model.
Technology readiness is crucial, as shared services rely heavily on integrated systems and automation to deliver efficiency gains. Organizations must also establish robust performance measurement systems to track service quality, cost savings, and customer satisfaction. Finally, talent management strategies ensure the right skills are in place to operate the new model effectively.
Using Instagantt for Shared Services Implementation
Managing a shared services implementation requires sophisticated project coordination across multiple workstreams, departments, and timelines. Instagantt's Gantt chart capabilities provide the visual clarity and coordination tools necessary to orchestrate this complex transformation. Dependencies between tasks can be clearly mapped, ensuring that technology setup aligns with staff transitions and that pilot testing occurs at the right time.
With Instagantt, project managers can track multiple parallel workstreams, monitor resource allocation across different service areas, and maintain visibility into critical milestones and potential bottlenecks. The platform's collaboration features ensure all stakeholders stay informed about progress, changes, and upcoming deliverables throughout the implementation journey.
