Federal Leadership Summit Produces Action Plan to Mobilize for Shared Services and Digital Strategies

MCLEAN, Va.

Increased effectiveness, efficiency and collaboration within federal agencies – all at a low cost. This ideal is possible for federal agencies and organizations through Shared Services and the use of Digital Strategies. The transformational potential for Shared Services and fulfillment of the President’s Management Agenda, especially as it involves the DATA Act, were the driving force behind the development of a comprehensive Action Plan detailed in the final report from the 2015 Federal Leadership Summit.

Shared Services merges supportive business operations (finance, facilities, information technology, procurement, human services, etc.) from several organizations, and delivers them in a centralized manner to eliminate redundancy and enable client businesses to focus limited resources on mission-critical services.

Developed by Leadership for a Networked World, convened by the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard and in collaboration with industry partner Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), the Federal Leadership Summit brought together more than 35 federal, state and local officials, academics and Booz Allen leaders to formulate a strategy for implementing Shared Services and Digital Strategies across the federal government.

“Our goal was to bring together leaders in Shared Services from across government, industry and academia,” said Kathryn Kienast, a principal at Booz Allen Hamilton. “The Action Plan is the result of in-depth discussions to identify best practices for effectively harnessing the power of Shared Services to transform the delivery of government services in today’s data-driven world.”

The Action Plan contains detailed recommendations for federal agencies, including:

• Focus and Mission: Create strategies for workforce development, align the organization’s strategy with broader vision for the federal workspace and understand the pressing needs for each stakeholder.
• Implementation: Develop cultural change strategy to gain employee support, mobilize senior leader support early in the process and give strong consideration to established Shared Services providers.
• Data Strategies: Make data actionable – in other words, use data to identify redundancies and reduce costs, leverage the DATA Act to increase analytic capabilities, and identify opportunities to share data across agencies to increase transparency.

The Digital Strategies presented in the report include solutions enabled by data, networks and analytics. They create value by opening up new operational models within and across government organizations (e.g. shared services, e-procurement, and service co-production), and by enabling more efficient and effective methods for delivering services (such as regulatory enforcement, health and social services, and tax collection) to constituents.

Antonio Oftelie, Executive Director of Leadership for a Networked World, commented that “responding to new business models is key for leaders in government. When we transform government capacity, we renew our ability to achieve outcomes, public value and the legitimacy of our institutions.”

The Summit’s final report also contains multiple case studies that were presented during the conference highlighting innovative examples of Shared Services and Digital Strategies implementation at the federal, state and local level. Additionally, the report contains detailed recommendations for building a larger Shared Services community across the federal ecosystem to continue the progress of the inaugural Summit.

About Leadership for a Networked World

Leadership for a Networked World helps leaders ideate and activate organizational transformations that generate capacity and sustainable value. Founded in 1987 at Harvard Kennedy School, LNW is now an applied research initiative of the Harvard Public Sector Innovation Award Program at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard. Since 1987, LNW has delivered more than 200 learning events and gathered more than 12,000 alumni globally. Learn more at www.lnwprogram.org.

About The Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH)

The Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH) is part of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and serves as both a real and virtual space for students, faculty, alumni, and industry leaders to learn together, collaborate and innovate. TECH enables this holistic exploration by sponsoring and supporting opportunities for the innovation community to gather and exchange knowledge via courses, study groups, mentorship relationships, innovation programs and special events.

About Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton is a leading provider of management consulting, technology, and engineering services to the U.S. government in defense, intelligence, and civil markets, and to major corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit organizations. Booz Allen is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, employs approximately 22,500 people, and had revenue of $5.27 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2015. To learn more, visit boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH)

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Booz Allen Hamilton
Matthew Billingsley, 703-902-3841
Billingsley_matthew@bah.com