JISC Answers

One of the aims of this project is to start a dialogue about how we ensure we are giving the best possible service to our customers.  We may conclude that the status quo delivers the optimal level of service or we may discover that some things could be done better by having a higher degree of co-ordination across the whole of our offering.  Similarly, some services may feel they could add more value in the areas that matter most to their customers if they didn’t need to spend so much time doing other things that aren’t necessarily their core area of expertise.  The focus of any such ‘rationalisation’ has to be the service we deliver and myself and the Directors welcome your views on how we can continue to improve our offering to the sector/s we serve.

It should of course also be noted that this type of rationalisation could mean doing more of something rather than less.  If we were to ‘rationalise’ the audiences we serve for example this could mean some services supporting new sectors that they don’t currently serve.

I agree with Gill - although there might be some 'rationalisation' through combining forces this will need to be balanced with the other need to expand market penetration, grow clients bases etc. Presumably part of the idea behind the company is to try and achieve more with the same resource rather than reduce net effort?

One of the benefits of any rationalisation activity will be to relieve Services of areas of activity that they do not wish to do or that they are currently out-sourcing at a significant cost - such as website hosting.  This will only be done where there is a clear need and will offer improvements and not where the Service is confidently manging a well-used service.