A number of defense and civilian agencies are successfully streamlining and downsizing their internal support services by transforming decades-old bureaucracies into lean, self-sustaining Working Capital Fund (WCF) business enterprises. However, making this paradigm shift in the government can be more complex—and initially more unsettling—than launching a new business in the private sector. The specter of change and political tension can seem like a veritable minefield, and naturally breeds anxiety and uncertainty among government managers and employees. Yet the potential benefits of the WCF concept—if backed by a rigorous and comprehensive planning process by the service provider—can lead to tremendous benefits for both the service providers and their customers in terms of efficiencies gained, resources conserved, buying flexibility achieved, and taxpayer dollars saved.
At Hilton Consulting, we’ve gained substantial WCF planning and implementation experience by assisting government components in their WCF business planning efforts in such key areas as:
- Business plan development
- Redefining and refining product and service offerings
- Establishing pricing strategies
- Developing new human resource plans
- Capitalizing infrastructure assets and establishing depreciation schedules
- Identifying appropriate financial management tools and systems to support the enterprise
- Preparing new standard operating procedures (SOPs)
- Deploying new support systems to handle service tracking, billing, inventory management, fixed asset accounting, and performance measurement
- Developing custom application systems to support business operations and streamline data collection
- Managing the collection of customer satisfaction data
We've written white papers and articles on WCF business planning and the underlying principles for preparing a government entity to operate as a WCF business enterprise.
We emphasize the need for complete readiness in each of the following areas before an organization ventures into WCF operations:
- Product and services readiness
- Business and operational process readiness
- Systems readiness
- Business plan readiness
- Transition readiness
- People—including customer—readiness
Contact us to learn more about our extensive experience in government Working Capital Fund business enterprise planning and support.
