Shared Services, Manchester

Manchester shared services news May 2006

02 Jun 2006 | (News)

Manchester has been named ‘Britain’s Best City for Business’ for 2006 by OMIS Research, charting the views of senior executives on the best locations for business in the UK. Ranked ahead of Glasgow, Leeds and London, Manchester’s continuing appeal is credited to its growing popularity and pivotal role to counter balance the growth and prosperity of London in the North.

Two Manchester based Shared Service Centres are also celebrating success, nominated for the only worldwide Shared Services Excellence Awards, run by IQPC at Shared Services Week 2006.

JT International Financial, Pan-European Shared Service Centre based at Salford Quays, has been nominated for Best New Shared Services Organisation, which is less than three years in operation.

Tetra Pak Business Services Ltd Financial, Pan-European Shared Service Centre based in Manchester city centre, has been nominated for Best Mature Shared Services Organisation, which is over three years in operation. Lisa Hooley from Tetra Pak is also nominated in the category of Shared Services Individual
Thought Leader.

The inaugural North West Shared Services Forum meeting attracted over 40 attendees and was hailed a great success by everyone present. Top line guest speakers included Dr Chris Westrup and Dr Debra Howcroft from Manchester Business School, comparing Manchester to Mumbai, and Stephen Duffy from BearingPoint on the future of Shared Services in the North West.

The day-long event took place at Tetra Pak Business Services Ltd. with members from Shared Service Centres across the North West, including Allied Bakeries, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ciba Chemicals, Esso Serve Europe, Michelin and Xansa. The event was kick-started by each member giving a brief summary of their organisation as well as any related topics or issues they were currently facing or interested in sharing with fellow members. This excellent format proved to be a great icebreaker and set the tone of interactive debate from the offset - a key function of the North West Shared Services Forum.

The Forum now has 29 members, including a double membership from AstraZeneca, for both their HR and Financial Shared Service Centres, and three large public sector organisations - Her Majesties Revenue & Customs, the Department for Work & Pensions and the Home Office. The next meeting of the North West Shared Services Forum, which is open to members only, will be hosted by TDG plc at its training facility in Trafford Park. The day will focus on managing your Shared Service Centre, with presentations on benchmarking and best practice from three of the member organisations; TDG plc, Royal & SunAlliance and Rolls Royce.

Unique to Manchester, the BTEC Intermediate Certificate in Providing Shared Services provides companies with the opportunity to offer their workforce a nationally recognised qualification, which specifically meets the needs of individuals working in the dynamic environment of Shared Services.

Four Manchester companies worked alongside Skills Solution to develop this qualification, with a pilot which ran for over 20 students last year, ensuring the qualification accurately meets the needs of the industry. Now ready to launch the next wave, the new intake is due to start in May 2006 with significant interest from the industry and a high take up so far.

The Certificate recognises the unique requirements of the Shared Services sector and consists of two mandatory and one of three optional modules. The mandatory modules consist of Improving Customer Service & Using IT, whilst for the optional modules learners are able to choose from HR, Payroll & Finance and Purchasing. Skills Solution delivers the qualification as a series of workshops, with set assignments complementing each module, and also provides one to one tutorials alongside on going tutor support throughout. The next phase of development for a higher level of qualification will start in earnest once this first group for the intermediate certificate has been embedded and will be available towards the end of 2006.

Network Rail’s employees are currently based at four separate locations around Manchester and will be moving to single building accommodation next year, following the Network Rail Board’s approval for a long-term lease on a number of floors at Square One.

The office building, which will be a major improvement on current facilities, becomes home to Network Rail’s regional hub and includes bringing together over 200 staff from both the HR and financial Shared Services Centres into one integrated site. Square One is a substantial Bruntwood refurbishment project totaling over 130,000 sq ft, benefiting from four large open floor areas of over 32,000 sq ft each with high ceilings, maximizing natural light.

Fitted to Grade A specification, with the largest city centre office car park in Manchester, the building will also include a direct pedestrian link into Piccadilly train station. Square One meets the Network Rail board’s vision of providing a world class working environment, and its location will reduce travel time to the office and avoid the need for many people to use local roads. Relocation will be in phased moves which are expected to take place between April and June 2007.

Read the complete article...

Manchester SSC News May 2006

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