Over the last year Auckland Council, together with our council-controlled organisations, has been assessing internal support services, to see whether more services might be shared across the group.
The council’s General Manager of Corporate Support Services Robert Irvine says this work, which stems from a recommendation in the 2020 review of our council-controlled organisations, is in its early feasibility stages and so far has identified a focus on ICT.
“What we’ve quickly come to understand is that ICT is the core enabler for successfully delivering shared services across the group – but more work is needed to fully understand the scale and complexity of any shared service approach.
“Functions like fleet management, insurance, recruitment and legal services, and some ICT, are already shared across the group,” says Mr Irvine. “So we’re not completely starting from scratch, however it’s the complex nature of our large family of organisations and the underlying need for the right ICT systems to support everything that we need to focus on next.”
Functions looked at as part of the assessment include Finance, ICT, Human Resources, Health Safety and Wellbeing, Corporate Strategy, Communications, Procurement, Risk and Assurance, Legal, Enterprise Project Management Office, Rates, Valuations and Data Management, Corporate Property, and other corporate services.
What does this mean for Aucklanders and how much will it cost?
“This work is part of our Value for Money programme, so we’re focussed on delivering better value and better services for the people of Tāmaki Makaurau.
“There will be costs, but there will be savings too as we seek to create more efficient ways of providing these services and support functions. We’re not yet at the point where we can estimate either,” says Mr Irvine.
The outcomes the council group is seeking to achieve through this project are:
- Simple, consistent, high-quality service delivery
- Freeing up our customer-facing staff to focus on tasks that support Aucklanders
- Increased knowledge sharing, capability and resilience
- Improved controls and reduced risks
- A more cost-effective and efficient operating model.
The Group Shared Services project includes Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, Eke Panuku, and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited. Watercare is not part of this work due to the Three Waters Reform programme, which is currently underway.
This work is expected to take around six months and a further update will be provided early next year when it is complete.
