Shared IT Services and IT Outsourcing for the Local Government, the Local Authority and the Local Council
More and more Local Authorities, Local Government and Local Councils turn to Shared IT Services and IT Outsourcing to help combat the finance challenges imposed on them today
The challenges faced by the Local Government, Local Authorities and Councils in terms of finances, has never been greater. There are now no “easy cuts” to be made, and each Local Authority must make hard decisions in terms of service delivery and costs associated with these.
Shared IT Services is an avenue for the Local Authority and Government to reduce costs within their own Authority, whilst retaining service levels in association with other Authorities, or by “partnering” with the private sector.
Moving into the world of Public, Private sector service delivery is a challenge, but it does allow the Local Authority and Local Government to adopt a more commercially minded approach.
Before a Local Authority engages in a Shared IT Services solution, it needs to be clear about its requirements and long term objectives.
A number of areas to examine are:
- Cost Savings
- Service Enhancement
- Existing Processes
- Employee Issues
- Delivery Model.
Cost savings:
One of the main reasons why a Local Authority engages in a shared IT services agreement is to reduce its cost based in terms of cost of service delivery, and fixed price v variable cost.
Service Enhancement:
The traditional service delivery model for back office functions within the Local Government is on a 9.00 – 5.00 Monday to Friday basis. Under a shared services and/or IT outsourcing agreement, service delivery can include out of hours, or a full 24 x 7 managed solution. An agreed SLA working model will also be in place and allow both parties to determine the specific agreement.
Fixed price:
Many shared IT service agreements, especially in back office functions, are now negotiated on a fixed price basis, to cover all aspects of the delivery model. This allows the Local Council buying the service to be able to budget effectively over a set period of time for the delivery of a shared IT service or IT Outsourcing arrangement that previously had been fluent in its cost model.
Employees:
A shared service or outsourced managed IT service does not always mean a reduction in staff to that Local Authority buying the service. In many cases the shared IT servicea sees the employees of that Local Authority transferred into areas where their experience and skills can deliver a better service model within the council structure and the repetitive and time consuming element of their work is provided by the IT outsourcing providers. This reduces cost within the Local Government, and provides the employee with a change of responsibilities and a greater focus on service delivery.
Nothing illustrates this growing trend more than the recent decision by 10 local authorities across the North West of England to merge services in a bid to save £2billion. The local authorities have earmarked a number of areas that will be shared, including adult and children’s services, shared IT services, vehicles, corporate and back office services, property and asset management, workforce development, income and customer contracts.
This type of service delivery is being led by many factors including, reduced budgets, government pressure, increased pressure to deliver better quality services, “out of hours” service delivery, and the increase in fixed price shared services.
Local Government are now being driven to examine a shared IT services solution, something which until recently was probably not on the agenda. The old argument was that shared services or outsourcing, would diminish overall control that the Local Authority had. However in todays economic climate, a shared service is one that encapsulates not only services, but also responsibilities between all parties and delivers a progressive, innovative and cost effective model.
A report from the Treasury in December 2009, stated the following.
“The private sector has often been ahead of the public sector on driving down back office costs. Shared service centres, now the norm in the private sector, are one example of how higher-quality support can often be provided at lower cost. The current public sector structure, with most departments, agencies and non departmental public bodies running their own back office functions, inflates costs unnecessarily.”
JoraPh Managed Services partner with a number of Local Authorities in delivering shared IT services and outsourced managed services within the Oracle and SQL Server Database infrastructure.
It is a service that fits easily and well into each of the Local Authorities domains, providing high level 24 x 7 support into an area that traditionally is difficult and costly for those Local Authorities to manage themselves.
In simple terms, the benefits for Local Authorities in engaging in a Database Managed Service agreement can be summed up in 8 points:
- It saves money
- Most administration tasks can be managed remotely
- Databases become a commodity
- Other infrastructure components are outsourced
- Stable environment, with minimal changes
- Freeing internal resources for other, more proactive purposes
- Getting resources that are not available internally
- An Enhanced Service delivery model (24 x 7)
A clear indication from business analysts confirm that shared IT services and "IT outsourcing", or, deferring internal functions to a “managed service” are becoming the norm, and that over the next 12 to 18 months, the majority of public sector organisations will be deploying one of these models, to meet the demands of delivery on their own staff, whilst battling with a reduction in Central Government funding.
For further information or a free confidential chat on how JoraPh Managed Services can help your Local Authority, Local Government or Local Council through their shared IT services or IT outsourcing offerings, which will provide you with improved service delivery, reduced costs and peace of mind please contact us now.
