What works, why it works, and how to evaluate a shared services program Shared services, a form of "internal outsourcing," enables corporations to achieve economies of scale by creating a separate entity within the company to perform specific internal services, such as payroll, accounts payable, travel and expense processing, etc. Essentials of Shared Services provides a quick, concise overview of shared services fundamentals, bringing senior-level executives up to speed so that they make the right decision. Bryan Bergeron provides a foundation of shared services from a historical, economic, technical, and customer perspective, showing how shared services can impact a corporation's bottom line, both long and short term. He delivers specific recommendations that can be used to establish and manage a shared services effort and includes a variety of examples of programs that work and those that do not.

"One of the ways companies are looking for competitive advantage in this frenetic [business] environment . . . is through the use of a tactical technique called shared services. . . . In this book, we bridge [the] chasm between the theory of how a shared services operation 'ought to' work and the practical issues involved in how to make it work, how to carry out a successful implementation of a shared service operation in your business."-from the Preface. Gaining competitive advantage in today's fierce business environment requires focus throughout the company on value, as measured by quality, cost, speed, and service. In the quest for superior performance, a growing number of companies are now turning to shared services, a tactical technique by which corporations can organize financial and other transaction-oriented activities to reduce costs and provide better service to business unit partners. Written by four authorities, three PricewaterhouseCoopers consultants and the executive who has directed the shared service efforts at Lucent Technologies, this comprehensive resource-the first of its kind-examines shared services from the macro issues that compel senior management to embrace this approach through the design and implementation of a shared services environment that leads to increased customer and shareholder value. Of all the tools available for gaining competitive advantage, why shared services? One of the principal reasons is that it creates, through consolidation of often disparate activities, more of a "one company" feel among business units. The benefits of this are twofold: one, it enables companies to show a consistent face to clients and customers, vendors and suppliers, shareholders and potential shareholders; two, it provides increased flexibility to all of the business' operations, allowing corporate leaders to maintain a global perspective while at the same time allowing business unit leaders to take strong, customer-focused actions. Providing both a domestic and global view, Shared Services addresses the full spectrum of issues, including: * Assessing whether shared services is right for you-issues to consider, goals to be reached. * Getting started-building support, establishing an effective organization, instituting continuous communication. * Setting up the infrastructure-billing shared services to business units, dealing with tax and legal entity issues. * International challenges-complexity, time zone, legal issues, currency stability, and security. * Program and project management-structures, planning, execution, and control. A groundbreaking book that examines a timely and important topic, Shared Services is an accessible and thorough guide to what could be a critical component in achieving long-term business success. This comprehensive resource is the first to introduce, explain, and explore shared services, an innovative business strategy that involves centralizing various business units, including accounting and transactional operations, to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction. Presenting a practical and easy-to-follow blueprint for the smooth and sound implementation of shared services in your organization, Shared Services: Adding Value to the Business Units covers all the fundamentals, from how to get started to proper management techniques.

What works, why it works, and how to evaluate a shared services program Shared services, a form of "internal outsourcing," enables corporations to achieve economies of scale by creating a separate entity within the company to perform specific internal services, such as payroll, accounts payable, travel and expense processing, etc. Essentials of Shared Services provides a quick, concise overview of shared services fundamentals, bringing senior-level executives up to speed so that they make the right decision. Bryan Bergeron provides a foundation of shared services from a historical, economic, technical, and customer perspective, showing how shared services can impact a corporation's bottom line, both long and short term. He delivers specific recommendations that can be used to establish and manage a shared services effort and includes a variety of examples of programs that work and those that do not.

This concise an insightful guide provides a road map for anyone trying to navigate or manipulate the Shared Source Code, necessary for anyone wanting to jump into the complex nucleus of the .NET platform.

What do shared service models involve? Which business processes can and/or should be shared? This ASM volume deals with such questions relating to the increasingly popular use of Shared Service Centers in organizations. The volume intends to move beyond debating the relevance of shared services towards more systematic research action.

This is a comprehensive guide to Scrum for all (team members, managers, and executives). If you want to use Scrum to develop innovative products and services that delight your customers, this is the complete, single-source reference you've been searching for. This book provides a common understanding of Scrum, a shared vocabulary that can be used in applying it, and practical knowledge for deriving maximum value from it.

Leverage Office 365 to increase your organization's efficiency by managing users, domains, licenses, and much more in your organization with most powerful subscription software. Key Features Get acquainted with the basics of Office 365 Configure and manage workloads efficiently using Office 365 A comprehensive guide covering every aspect of planning, and managing this multifaceted collaboration system. Book Description Office 365 is suite of advanced collaboration tools used by many well known organizations and their system administrators. This book starts with an introduction to Office 365 and its basic fundamentals. Then we move towards workload management and deployment. You will delve into identities, authentications, and managing office 365. We also cover concepts such as collaboration with Microsoft teams and tools such as Delve and Skype for collaboration. Towards the end of the book, you'll master monitoring and security concepts. By the end of this book, you will have hands-on experience working with Office 365 and its collaboration tools and services What you will learn Learn how to implement Office 365 from scratch and how to use best practices to be a successful Office 365 professional Understand Microsoft productivity services to take your organization or business to the next level by increasing productivity. Learn how workloads and applications interact and integrate with each other Learn to manage Skype for Business Online Get support and monitor service health with Office 365 Manage and administer identities and groups efficiently Who this book is for If you are working as a system administration or an IT professional and are keen to learn the fundamentals of Office 365, then this book is for you. No prior knowledge of office 365 is necessary.

Chock-full of valuable tips, techniques, illustrative real-world examples, exhibits, and best practices, this handy and concise paperback will help you stay up to date on the newest thinking, strategies, developments and technologies in knowledge management. Order your copy today!

Organizational complexity is an unavoidable aspect of all businesses, even larger ones, which can hinder their ability to react to sudden or disruptive change. However, with the implementation of enterprise architecture (EA), businesses are able to provide their leaders with the resources needed to address any arising challenges. A Systemic Perspective to Managing Complexity with Enterprise Architecture highlights the current advances in utilizing enterprise architecture for managing organizational complexity. By demonstrating the value and usefulness of EA, this book serves as a reference for business leaders, managers, engineers, enterprise architects, and many others interested in new research and approaches to business complexity.

Last year Gartner identified the 10 major forces that are actively reshaping the future of IT services and the outsourcing market*. Amongst the much hyped Cloud, Security and Consumerization were included the Value Chain and Componentization -- items that don t get so much Press hype but, according to Gartner, are fundamental forces that should be addressed. A new title: The IT Factory describes operating within these forces by applying Supply Chain Management for IT Infrastructure Services: Using the SCOR Model. The IT Factory is the Solution to Value Chain and Componentization Issues Caspar Hunsche, CTO, Director of Research, Supply Chain Council, Inc. notes that it s been done before : The processes of IT Value Chain and IT Componentization can deliver goods and services by using the same Factory techniques that supply chains do. Brad Ellison - Manager, Global Data Centers - Intel® Corporation agrees noting We have moved deliberately to a factory metaphor. We have stopped focusing just on what data centers store and are asking ourselves, What do they output? It s clear that IT departments need to get down to the Factory floor to gain the experience that has been bread and butter thinking for Supply Chain disciplines for many years. Hans van Aken, a seasoned HP employee, with support from The Supply Chain Council, has used the Global Standard SCOR (Supply-Chain Operations Reference-model) to distil the experience of many Supply Chain experts to describe how businesses can implement IT Commoditisation and Value Chain using tried and tested techniques.