There's a very interesting article about the Chicago-based shared service alliance called the Back Office Collaborative, or BOC, in the winter issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review (http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/case_study_change_comes_at_a_cost), summarizing what BOC and its members have been able to accomplish since it was formed in 2008. I recommend that you read it. The article does a nice job of highlighting BOC's significant successes, as well as detailing the pain that the organizations have undergone to get there. To date BOC has created net savings to its members of almost $1.5M. The typical member of BOC gets a 488 percent return on their $6,375 membership fee, quite astounding. Yet, some of BOC's success has come at a significant price, in some instances. After consolidating financial services departments, 35 people lost their jobs which generated over $700,000 in savings. And yes some of those jobs went to India. The founding organizations have been able to re-invest those savings back into the organizations' programs and services, which is what this shared service alliance is all about. Future plans call for continuing this consolidation process, by sharing health insurance, I.T. and Human Resources. There are other examples out there about shared service alliances to give you perspective on how this can be done differently (check out my blog for postings on this subject), but none have achieved the results that BOC has, in this short time. I know that Bryan Preston and his members have agonized over this process; it is never easy to decide to lay anyone off. But if the organizations are more stable, and able to invest more in their services as a result of these changes, isn't that a good thing? Read the article and decide for yourself, and then write me a comment and let me know your thoughts.