Consolidated Financial Report - SUNY Canton

Shared Services• A process whereby the entities concerneddetermine which support processescan be performed in a shared servicesenvironment and which should remaindecentralized.Shared Services are not:• A re-engineering of existing support serviceswithout a consideration of the largerprocesses that they support.• A “blunt instrument” for cost reduction,aimed exclusively at process consolidationand FTE elimination.Challenges For Shared Services in Higher Education:Specific challenges in the education sector include:• Universities are independent, autonomous entitiesand operate in a competitive environment.• A direct and clear mandate for shared services has tobe established to drive the necessary cooperation.• Cultural challenges have to be addressed to drivestandardization.Shared services focuses on providing servicesas efficiently as possible, while continuallylooking for additional opportunities toincrease productivity and reduce costs. It focuseson end-to-end processes and emphasizesthe seamless integration of processes betweenshared services and the institutions.The shared services organization can help bothinstitutions reduce costs and improve servicequality. It can help the functions shift fromtraditional high-volume, low-value addedprocesses to a broader range of higher valueadded activities.Challenges for Shared Services in HigherEducationThere is an extensive body of data demonstratingthat shared services work in the privatesector. Evidence is also growing that sharedservices can be effectively applied in the publicsector although there are sometimes additionalchallenges and sector specific considerations.These include:• A risk adverse landscape;• Consensus driven decision making slowingdown timelines;• Fear of loss of autonomy;• Competing priorities;• Fewer levers to incentivize people;• Longer payback period.2011-2012 Consolidated Financial Report H-2