Shared Services in Higher Education

CMC hosted a seminar at the inaugural Future of Shared Services in Higher Education conference recently, entitled 'What we will do differently next time: Lessons from the front line of sharing services'.

The seminar highlighted the learning from a major shared service project in the public sector from inception to the delivery of a working solution for its customers. We reflected on the major contextual, practical and behavioural obstacles to success that needed to be overcome. The lessons and issues from this case study delivered vital messages that all new shared service initiatives need to take on board to improve their chances of success.

The event was especially timely in light of the Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts, telling the Universities UK annual conference that too many universities do too much in-house, and the government’s drive for greater efficiency savings in higher education.

At CMC we have developed an integrated shared service knowledge programme designed specifically for HE and FE organisations to provide stakeholders with vital insights into the best and worst shared service projects, creating a key source of expertise and support for implementations at any stage of a project.

Speakers at the conference included Professor Ian Diamond, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Aberdeen; Professor Malcolm Gillies, Vice-chancellor, London Metropolitan University; Nigel Paul, Director of Corporate Services, University of Edinburgh; and Paul Evans, Director of Business Excellence, Liverpool John Moores University.

CMC Director of Sales and Marketing Michael Campbell said: “This conference helped set the agenda for HEIs seeking to reduce costs while maintaining first-class services. We welcomed the opportunity to present our experience in saving central Government departments significant sums through shared services initiatives and look forward to using our expertise in sharing IT, HR and financial services to benefit HEIs.”