ICT Collaborations
Shared Back Office |
Summary
Shared back office means sharing support functions between organisations in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Back office services include HR, finance and administration – and everything else which supports an organisation to deliver its mission. See NCVO’s Collaborative Working publication Sharing back office services.
ICT is essential to back office services, and collaboration can enable organisations to develop more sophisticated systems and bring huge benefits to organisations and their beneficiaries. Back office ICT collaboration is most common where organisations share office space and organisations can be offered a package of ICT services and support, but it is not dependent on a shared physical space. Specific elements of back office collaboration are covered elsewhere is this publication.
Discussion
Shared back office ICT has the potential to provide suitable software and ICT support at a reasonable price through collective buying power and shared resources. The types of shared back office arrangements vary greatly in the voluntary and community sector and currently include: training, purchasing, technical infrastructure and national and local technical support. (See www.charityshare.org.uk).
Pros |
Cons |
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Generates economies of scale |
Distribution of initial product or services across all participants can be proportionally more difficult according to number of organisations involved |
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Allows for access to better quality services at more affordable prices |
Disruption to services during initial install |
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Access to affordable and reliable maintenance services |
Can raise issues around data ownership and sharing |
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Opportunities for other shared services such as electronic room booking facilities, intranet, shared calendars and cheaper phone calls |
May not be able to meet very specialised requirements |
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Increased buying power with suppliers |
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Can provide more streamlined and efficient access to data |
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Case studies: Community First, Ethical Property and Common Database- York and North Yorkshire.