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Shared Services ~ Possibilities and common pitfalls Perspectives from Care Connect
Shared Services ~ Possibilities and common pitfalls
Perspectives from Care Connect
Care Connect Ltd
• Major community care provider in NSW, QLD, VIC ~ supporting people to live independent lives at home and in the community.
• Care Connect specialise in providing services to people from culturally and socially diverse backgrounds and offers services related to aged, disability, mental health, ABI, Autism Spectrum Disorders, transitional care, preventative care, dementia and respite
• Support for over 7,300 people
• Staff numbering approx. 320
• Revenues for FY2012 approx. $33M, up from $28M last FY
Shared Services ~ our offering
• Shared services model is traditional customer / provider ~ our back of house services are provided to other NFP’s on a fee for service basis.
• Traditional shared services and ‘non traditional’
• Traditional – HR, Finance, IT and Payroll
• Non Traditional – interim executive support, marketing, tender writing, legal services and secretariat, asset & facilities management, quality, privacy and complaints, contract management
Shared Services ~ our offering
• Four delivery models
• Your system, your processes, your office• Your system, your processes, our office• Our system, our process, your office• Our system, our process, our office
• Typical engagement
• Approach -> information gathering -> scoping -> SLA discussion -> risk assessment -> pricing -> contract negotiation -> set up & implementation planning including resourcing, training, -> Go Live -> monitoring -> Account Management
• Other – e.g. Provide assistance with business case modelling if required
Shared Services ~ our rationaleRationale
• Sufficient size and resources to be able to provide these services to other, typically smaller organisations providing the same or better service for the same or less cost.
• Strong philosophical support for the sector – more $’s can be redeployed to direct client care
• Profit generation – back-of-house services that had previously been organisational overheads have the potential to become profit centers, or at least achieve a cost neutral status.
• Expectations of our funders
• Majority of the Exec team come from commercial backgrounds prior to joining the NFP sector
Shared Services ~ Challenges
• Challenges for our clients
• Understanding of what they want to achieve• Articulation of SLA’s• Resourcing• Inter-relationship of some of the functions• Knowledge about how to proceed
• Challenges for us
- Cultural change- Pricing, given challenges listed above- Balancing resourcing- Embed new practices & philosophies quickly- Change management- Third party engagement
Shared Services ~ Benefits
• Benefits for our clients
• Same or better service for the same or less cost• Risk transfer• Access to knowledge, systems and support that they might not otherwise
have access to• Focus on core business• Respond to funding / funder pressures
• Benefits for us
- Cultural change- Achieve at least cost neutral position for areas that are otherwise overheads- Improved efficiencies and practices internally- Service based focus to our activities- Career opportunities identified for our staff
Shared Services ~ What to do to prepare ?
Our perspective…
• Talk to us before writing your business case• Be ready to brief us on the systems you currently use, the number of staff
involved in the various functions, identify the problems you are currently experiencing
• Don’t ‘clean things up’ before engaging us• Challenge some of your own assumptions – eg do you really need the work
completed at your premises?• Work through the process in a logical order• Understand that your staff might be nervous about the process• Allocate a specific person who is able to be our ‘go to person’ – they need to
be someone who knows who to involve from your side
Shared Services ~ Contact Details
Jacqui WilsonGeneral Manager, Corporate & Commercial ServicesCare Connect Ltd
