Government Technology

Steria suggests that now, more than ever, is the time for government bodies to re-consider their sourcing models.

Efficiency. Transformation. Recession. They’re words that we’re hearing every day across the public sector and they can’t be ignored.

It’s clear that in order to deliver efficient citizen and business services there has to be a transformation of service delivery. It’s also clear that as the economic downturn bites, the pressures on public sector delivery will grow, with more people claiming benefits and the demand for prescription and other support services increasing.

Within this challenging recessionary climate government departments and local authorities are expected to maintain both ‘business as usual’ and public confidence, while cutting costs. It’s a tough challenge that has been getting increasingly tougher in the past six months.

It is not all despair and gloom, however. In fact there are some notable examples of government and local authority programmes in which a change in approach to the sourcing of essential back office and technology services has yielded significant efficiency and cost benefits. We can use and learn from the successful service delivery measures within these programmes.

So where are these success stories? One of the three key themes of the 2005 Transformational Government strategy was the need to adopt a shared service business model to ‘release efficiencies across the system’. While government in the main has been slow to take up this model a number of, perhaps more commercially minded, bodies recognised its value early on.

Some, like Oadby and Wigston Borough Council in Leicestershire, have utilised a quicker, less resource-hungry route to outsourced procurement. The authority has made a strategic decision to take advantage of existing best practice services by tapping into outsourced ICT provision already being provided by Steria to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council and entering into a shared service agreement – both councils are set to reap financial as well as operational dividends.

Another approach is demonstrated by one of the most impressive public sector success stories – the 50:50 joint venture between Steria and the Department of Health. NHS SBS is providing a range of shared back office services, including payroll, e-procurement and debt recovery to over 100 NHS Trusts within the ‘national framework agreement’.

Many of these processes are being efficiently delivered from a dedicated business unit in India. And the result? NHS SBS is on target to deliver savings of £224 million over 10 years and is channelling millions of untapped funds back into NHS organisations. This is a genuine example of Business Process Outsourcing at its best where service innovation flourishes.

Elsewhere, by partnering with Steria, councils including Dorset and Argyll and Bute are gaining the benefit of innovative customer contact management solutions to significantly reduce costs and meet their commitment to handling citizen demands at the first point of contact. And Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council will be saving an annual £500,000 by outsourcing its ICT services to Steria.

These successes show how public sector experience can be combined with commercial acumen to meet efficiency and cost cutting targets. Surprisingly, it is the downturn in the economy that might speed up the adoption of BPO and shared services as government uses outsourcing to meet short-term demand for services. What may well begin as a short-term measure could become a long-term strategy for efficiency.

Steria delivers IT-enabled business services that help organisations in the public and private sectors operate more efficiently and profitably. By combining in-depth understanding of its clients' businesses with expertise in IT and business process outsourcing, Steria takes on its clients' challenges and develops innovative solutions to address them. Through a highly collaborative consulting style, the company works to transform its clients’ businesses, enabling them to focus on what they do best.

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