Recently I had an opportunity to reflect on best practices in starting up a shared services center.  I can think of at least 10 best practices that distinguish “best in class” shared services centers from their mediocre counterparts.  But I was asked to name only 3.  Experts may disagree but here is my list.

1). Adopting usability principles and practices in the design of your customer interfaces.  Interface is broadly defined as every point at which the SSO touches its customers and all the ways in which  customers interact with the SSO.  Forms, form letters, standard emails, your contact center, your customer portal and even your processes for requesting and delivering services are interfaces.

2). A robust business intelligence infrastructure that gives you end-to-end insights into your processes, service levels and costs.

3).  Good tools and tight processes for tracking and managing costs down to the unit of consumption or service instance. 

Tags: best practices, Implementation, planning  |  Posted under Strategic Planning  |    No Comments