Scotlink Ltd.

Shared Services

Although the shared services model is well established, navigating the landscape and options can be complex. Organisations have taken many different roads to shared services and a plethora of models have evolved over the years. These range from a single SSC providing multiple services to a region or subsidiary, to multiple SSCs split by function (e.g. separate SSCs for IT, HR and Finance). They vary in terms of functional and geographical scope, have differing commercial structures and diverse migration paths.
Scotlink's shared services team can help you to steer through each stage of the shared services lifecycle, from initial strategy to optimization.

How we can help...

• Shared services strategy - the right approach for your unique situation. We'll work through the options with you to create and gain commitment to the chosen strategy, with measurable business cases and practical, implementable plans.
• Solution design - the blueprint for the future service, showing the detail of the internally integrated service centre, the retained organisation and how they fit together around your key business processes. We help you deliver sustainable business and financial models clearly showing the impact on the rest of your organisation.
• Location Selection - we establish selection criteria including office space, IT infrastructure, and availability of skills, political stability, business risk and comparative costs. Then we conduct the detailed research on your behalf, identify a shortlist of potential locations and facilitate the selection process based on your business requirements.
• Transition - we can support you with service centre operational design, build, test, work transition, and launch of shared services from you new location. According to you specific needs we can support you with you highly skilled, experienced practitioners to add to your transition team capability in areas such as programme management, solution architecture, business process redesign, performance measurement/SLAs, continuous improvement and governance.
• Change Management and beyond - Scotlink can be there to help embed the impact of shared services on your existing business and foster stronger working relationships between your teams, your customers and your suppliers.
• Optimisation - over time it is not unusual to find that your shared services are starting to either to under-deliver or have got out of step with changing business needs. We specialise in reviewing and investigating service delivery performance and capability in order to help you identify and eliminate problem areas. Depending on your circumstances this may lead to a reframing of scope of services, better standardisation, simplification and automation of processes, service relocation, or in some cases a decision to outsource.