Greg Naimo is speaking at the 14th Australasian Shared Services & Outsourcing Week to be held in Melbourne in April 2011. In particular, Greg is taking part in the panel discussion focusing on Not-For-Profits and what Shared Services can mean for this sector . For more information about the event, please visit www.SharedServicesWeek.com.au or call +61 2 9229 1000. Alternatively you can email enquire@iqpc.com.au. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @SSONetwork.

1. The Not For Profit Sector and Shared Services
Interview with Greg Naimo, Director at UnitingCare IT Services
Centre
SSON
Before delve into some of the main issues we are going to be discussing
at the conference, could you first give us a run down of where
UnitingCare is on the Shared Services journey? Can you to give us an
idea of scale, functions, maturity and so forth?
Greg Naimo
The UnitingCare IT Shared Services journey started in 2009 following a
detailed review of needs and alternative options. We are on track to transition
IT services provision to our shared services group by July 2011. The services
offered cover a wide range of needs, from desktop support, network and data
centre infrastructure to application support and project management services.
Not-for-profits are often said to be dealing with a whole other realm of
issues in comparison to their private and government sector
counterparts. Given your experience, what are your thoughts on this?
I am not seeing this as a particular difference in that our aim would be quite
similar to other providers of shared services – namely to ensure quality
services in a predictable, professional and cost effective way.
Some in the not for profit sector believe that there may be value in joint
shared services ventures to achieve the scalability and savings needed
to make a difference – particularly in IT. Do you think this is a viable
option?
From our perspective we do not see this as a viable option for now. Our
emphasis has been on ensuring a smooth transition of services to our shared
service group and maturing the quality and means by which they are
delivered. Perhaps at some later date it may be an option to consider.
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2. How do you attract and retain talent at your centre when IT
professionals are in such high demand and you have to compete with
large corporates?
As you say, this is a common issue and we strive to provide a rewarding and
challenging environment for staff with the appropriate skills to match our
needs. It is also about putting the roles and the work into more than just
being a business, it is about showing the IT staff how the work they are doing
is actually enabling our care and frontline staff to deliver services to very
vulnerable and needy people in the community.
As an ex-CIO and head of an IT SSO, which technologies can you see
really changing the shared services game this decade? Is cloud the be
all and end all?
Cloud may play a role, but it is difficult to predict when particular offerings will
mature sufficiently to be adopted.
Now that 2011 is upon us, what are your more specific goals for the
coming 12 months at Uniting Care IT SSO?
We have a significant project workload in both infrastructure and applications
areas – so for us the challenge will be to deliver on our client’s expectations.
Greg Naimo is speaking at the 14th Australasian Shared Services &
Outsourcing Week to be held in Melbourne in April 2011. In particular,
Greg is taking part in the panel discussion focusing on Not-For-Profits
and what Shared Services can mean for this sector.
For more information about the event, please visit
www.SharedServicesWeek.com.au or call +61 2 9229 1000. Alternatively
you can email enquire@iqpc.com.au. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter
@SSONetwork.
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