Decentralization Versus Shared Services:
why the tug-of-war, and how to have your cake and eat it too

Abstract

Many people believe that decentralization will make staff more customer focused, improve their strategic alignment, and enhance business-unit autonomy.

On the other hand, the costs of decentralization are clear: quality drops, innovation slows, responsiveness suffers, business synergies disappear, career paths are shattered, and expenses rise by as much as 50 percent. Decentralization is an exceedingly costly way to get customer focus and business-unit autonomy!

The alternative is shared services, where business units acquire products and services from a centralized (corporate) internal service provider. But this brings its own risks and challenges.

How can a company get the benefits of decentralization without the costs? By building a healthy shared services organization that respects business units as customers. Once corporate staff are able to earn their "market share" through performance, business units will have no reason to incur the costs and headaches of managing their own staff.

This session analyzes the reasons for decentralization, why it's so costly, and what a shared services organization must do to deliver all the benefits of decentralization without any of its costs.

Outline

* Three good reasons to decentralize

* Why decentralization is so expensive

* How shared services organizations can address those three good reasons

* The payoff: the best of both worlds

* Strategies for consolidation

* Building an organization that earns clients' business

Contact us to discuss your specific interests and requirements.