Exploring Shared Services from an IS Perspective: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Other common definitions (from outside the IS literature) cited by IS authors <s> Contents: List of figures List of tables Lists of abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction: why use shared services? Part I The Basis for Shared Services: Processes covered by shared service organizations The location of shared service organizations Benefits and obstacles to setting up a shared service organization IT for shared service organizations People - incentives, retention and training Performance measurement Service pricing and service level agreements The structure of shared service organizations. Part II Implementing Shared Services: Pre-assessment The feasibility study and business case Design Implementation Optimization. Afterword: Future Trends References and information sources Index. <s> BIB001 </s> Exploring Shared Services from an IS Perspective: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Other common definitions (from outside the IS literature) cited by IS authors <s> Anecdotal reports suggest that offshoring may have negative implications for North American consumers. Despite the anecdotal reports, North American firms are increasingly offshoring front office functions such as customer service and back office functions such as IT. This leads to two primary research questions. Does front office offshoring actually have negative implications for consumers? If so, why would firms increasingly offshore in the face of evidence that offshoring has negative implications for consumers? This research addresses these questions by considering the relationship between offshoring and customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction, expressed through the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), is an important indicator of firm performance. Higher ACSI scores have been linked to higher firm profitability, shareholder value and risk-adjusted stock returns.We analyze longitudinal data of 150 North American firms and business units from 1998-2006, and find that while front office offshoring is associated with a decrease in customer satisfaction, onshore front office outsourcing is associated with a similar decrease. This finding suggests that declines in customer satisfaction from front office offshoring may be partly attributable to language and cultural issues, and partly related to other gaps for outside service providers (offshore or onshore) to adequately serve and satisfy consumers. We also find that back office offshoring is associated with an increase in customer loyalty. The difference between front office and back office offshoring suggests that in addition to considering whether or not to offshore, firms must carefully evaluate which functions are suitable for offshoring. <s> BIB002 </s> Exploring Shared Services from an IS Perspective: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Other common definitions (from outside the IS literature) cited by IS authors <s> Following the article by Vargo and Lusch (2004), the use of a service-dominant logic has become an international topic for discussion. In the present article, following the research tradition of the Nordic School, the contribution of service marketing to marketing at large is discussed. In this article a service logic is compared to a goods logic. It is concluded that a service logic fits best the context of most goods producing businesses today. These conclusions are similar to those proposed by Vargo and Lusch (2004). However, there are differences as well, as the approach of the Nordic School is to study services directly in their marketing context and report on how changing marketing contexts influence the logic required for effective marketing. <s> BIB003 </s> Exploring Shared Services from an IS Perspective: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Other common definitions (from outside the IS literature) cited by IS authors <s> Shared service centers (SSCs) have gained the interest of politicians and public administrations to improve efficiency. By unbundling and centralizing activities, the basic premise for SSCs seems to be that services provided by one local department can be provided to others with relatively few efforts. The introduction of a SSC is a major decision having a long-term impact on all the participants and is often competing with outsourcing arrangements. As such it is of essential importance to get a better understanding of the motives for introducing SSCs. The motives for introducing a SSC in public administration are presented and discussed in this paper. First, by means of investigating an existing SSC in time, the initial motives for introducing a SSC have been compared with the accomplished benefits after realizing the SSC. The introduction of a SSC was driven by a series of complex, interrelated motives. Second, because SSCs can be regarded as a specific kind of sourcing arrangement, the motives for establishing a SSC have been compared with the motives associated with outsourcing as found in literature. This should help decision-makers in making a tradeoff between SSCs and other sourcing arrangements. <s> BIB004 </s> Exploring Shared Services from an IS Perspective: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Other common definitions (from outside the IS literature) cited by IS authors <s> Purpose – To reveal similarities between the business process reengineering (BPR) and shared service approaches, in order to improve outcomes of shared service implementation processes through lessons learnt from previous BPR projects.Design/methodology/approach – As the focus of this paper is primarily theoretical, the paper starts out with a literature review of developments in the BPR and shared service movements. Similarities between the two change alternatives are discussed and drawn up.Findings – The paper concludes by identifying which previously learnt lessons the emerging shared service movement should take into account from the BPR era when implementing shared services.Research limitations/implications – The paper is primarily based on previous findings from a literature review. To increase insights into the contemporary shared service phenomenon, complementary research in the form of in‐depth case studies are recommended.Practical implications – Based on the similarities between BPR and shared ... <s> BIB005 </s> Exploring Shared Services from an IS Perspective: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Other common definitions (from outside the IS literature) cited by IS authors <s> Purpose – Driven by cost reduction and improved quality of service, some firms have adopted shared services as a governance model to manage their staff functions. This paper seeks to explore this behavior using the resource‐based view.Design/methodology/approach – The case of an information technology (IT) unit of a multinational manufacturing firm is presented to provide insight into the issues involved when adopting and migrating an IT resource system to a shared services model. The analysis is extended using conceptual models of the relevant sub‐systems developed through the soft systems methodology (SSM), using a set of root level definitions that are intended to express the transformation to a shared services model.Findings – The results suggest that the major changes involved when transitioning to shared services are process and communication related. Aligning the team members and gaining their commitment are necessary for success.Practical implications – The case analysis and SSM models provide som... <s> BIB006 </s> Exploring Shared Services from an IS Perspective: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Other common definitions (from outside the IS literature) cited by IS authors <s> Organisations are increasingly looking to realise the benefits of shared services yet there is little guidance available as to the best way to proceed. A framework is presented that considers the service provided, the design of the shared services centre and the organisational context it sits within. Case studies that examine the relevance of that framework and assess the performance of eleven shared services as a first step in determining what specific attributes of each dimension are important and how they should be aligned. It is concluded that there appears to be a single, broadly standard pattern of attributes for successful Shared Services Centres (SSCs). As fundamentals the SSC should aim to realise economies of scale by providing a broad range of transaction processing services using a standardised IT platform. Additional factors associated with successful SSCs include the SSC being held accountable for its results and there being an emphasis on managing the cultural change associated with the introduction of shared services. Beyond these core attributes a number of characteristics that potentially inhibit or facilitate the successful operation of SSCs have also been identified. <s> BIB007 </s> Exploring Shared Services from an IS Perspective: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Other common definitions (from outside the IS literature) cited by IS authors <s> The growing pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency induces many organizations to undertake shared services initiatives. This consolidation and streamlining of common business functions is also known as insourcing, in-house services, business services, or staff services. While adoption of a shared service structure is viewed by many as an appropriate strategy to pursue, most companies still struggle to devise optimal strategies and to generate adequate returns on investments for their projects, because none of the approaches that are commonly adopted is recognized as universally effective. This paper builds upon the “structure-environment” perspective to uncover configurations of shared services organizations and to explain why and under what circumstances some of these configurations exhibit superior results. The conceptual model proposed challenges the notion of “best practice” and suggests that the effectiveness of a shared services project depends on the degree of complementarity between the “needs” arising from the environment in which a company operates and the specific capabilities developed to address these needs. The theoretical findings are validated empirically through the analysis of a large sample of European firms that recently undertook initiatives in this domain. Four dominant configurations of shared service organizations are uncovered, and their relationship to performance is explored. <s> BIB008 </s> Exploring Shared Services from an IS Perspective: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Other common definitions (from outside the IS literature) cited by IS authors <s> Shared service has proven to be a key element when it comes to increasing government efficiency by collaboration. Here, we seek to investigate into the shared services phenomenon in the context of government reforms. For this purpose, an interview and document analysis-based multiple case study has been conducted in Germany. The qualitative analysis covers three shared service implementations on the local government level and identifies important preconditions for shared service emergence, namely cost pressure as motive, the existence of key actors promoting the topic and the existence of prior cooperation. Moreover, it is shown that the structure of such previous cooperation determines, if shared services are being organised in a centralised (shared service centre) or decentralised format (shared service network). <s> BIB009
Papers Outside IS (cited by IS Authors) Volume 22 Article 15 Though the definitions are diverse, concentration or consolidation is a key theme. Many refer to support or backoffice functions (e.g., Finance, HR, IT and procurement) and the services they deliver via processes and IT. Several refer to organizational, business and governance aspects. Some refer to a specific organizational model, where the services are provided by a (semi-)autonomous organizational entity to multiple other entities. This is sometimes included more explicitly in the definition, with specific reference made to a shared service 'centre'. There are also themes that relate to a business approach, in terms of being managed like a business, being service and customer oriented, and having a provider-client relationship (e.g., service level agreements). Governance is implicit in the concept of 'sharing' and in themes like collaboration. While there are similarities between the definitions and common themes can be identified, there are also some significant differences in terms of characteristics included, as well as conflicting characteristics. An example of the former is the semi-autonomous entity, which is sometimes included in the definition [e.g., Yee et al., 2009] and sometimes not mentioned at all [e.g., BIB009 . Moreover, some refer explicitly to a shared services 'centre' [e.g., BIB002 ]. An example of conflicting characteristics is whether shared services are intraorganizational (within a single organizational boundary) [e.g., BIB006 or can also be extended across interorganizational (multiple organizations) boundaries [e.g., Yee and Chan, 2009 ]. In addition, we see that some definitions include one or more objectives of shared services such as increase efficiency, create value or improve services [e.g., BIB006 , whereas BIB007 argues to keep objectives out of the definition. BIB001 attributes the diversity of definitions to the diverse perspectives on shared services -strategic, operational, process, and technical (IT), and differential reasoning and goals. In a similar vein, Schulman et al. [1999] argue that shared services need to be tailored to each organization. Therefore, a variety of approaches to shared services have been proposed and implemented. In addition, there is yet uncertainty about the most appropriate ways to conceive, implement and manage shared services BIB008 . This would argue for a broad definition of shared services that includes different types and implementations. So while there is convergence around the concentration or consolidation theme, there exists no common understanding or agreement on a specific definition within, and even outside, the IS community. Given that only 16 of 193 papers explicitly define shared services (recognizing, in the secondary papers, shared services may not be sufficiently central to warrant a definition), it may be the notion is considered well understood (inappropriately), requiring little explanation. However, as preceding discussion shows, the concept is neither well-established nor consistent in the IS discipline. For the remainder of this paper we define shared services broadly as "an organizational arrangement whereby multiple organizational units collaborate in the concentration of resources to provide services that support their business activities." This definition captures the main ideas of 'sharing' in terms of organizational units collaborating by concentrating their resources and 'service' in term of supporting the business activities of the organizational units as customers/users. With respect to the latter, this reflects the understanding of services as supporting the processes of customers so that value can be created BIB003 . The definition is inclusive, accommodating most perspectives on shared services found in the IS literature (e.g., whether based on consolidation or not, whether specifying a shared services centre or not, and whether intra-or inter-organizational, etc.), while excluding specific mention of objectives, as suggested by BIB007 . A more specific version of this definition for shared services as organizational arrangement for the IS function can refer to 'IS resources' and 'IS services' in the definition. While our holistic and inclusive definition can serve as a tentative definition, further research into a conceptualization for IS is required; we call for closer and careful attention to the meaning of shared services in IS research. Deriving from the preceding analysis and discussion of shared services definitions, we suggest the following questions for further, more focused future research on the definition of shared service from an IS perspective: c. How to deal with (conflicting) characteristics of shared services in IS (e.g., intra-or inter-organizational)? d. To what extent is shared services in IS similar or different to shared services in other domains (e.g., Finance, HR)? Important in understanding shared services and its distinctiveness, is its relation with centralization/decentralization and outsourcing, seemingly overlapping concepts. The need for consolidation is in some sense a reaction to the negative effects of decentralization (or duplication) of business functions in multi-business-unit organizations. Shared services differs though from centralization, in particular with respect to customer intimacy and control by the customer[e.g., BIB004 ]. BIB006 see shared services as a specific form of a 'federal' mode of IT organization in large division-based organizations, combining centralization and decentralization.  suggests, this way of organizing the IS function attempts to capture the benefits of both centralized and decentralized IT. BIB005 states that shared services is somewhat similar to outsourcing, and that "the main difference is where the service provider is located organizationally and that internal resources are used rather than those of a contractual partner" [Ulbrich, 2006, pp. 197] . Shared services can also be seen as a step towards external outsourcing [Kagelmann, 2000, pp. 79-81 ; cited in BIB005 . Therefore, a more advanced understanding of shared services in relation to other forms of organizing and sourcing the IS function, applications and infrastructure should be a priority for future research. 