Belzona Polymerics get smart on costs

LEFT TO RIGHT: David Reeves, Accounts Payable Supervisor, Neill Sumerfield, Expense Reduction Analyst consultant, Dr. Bill Ashcroft, Managing Director, John Bradley, Group Financial Controller, David MacKarill, IT Manager

When Belzona Polymerics engaged Expense Reduction Analysts to review their telecom costs, it was in the knowledge that the company already kept a tight rein on spending in this area. It was also felt that an external consultancy would be able to make more objective recommendations and enable Belzona employees to concentrate on their own already heavy workloads.

Neill Summerfield of Expense Reduction Analysts started his review by analysing all calls and texts sent to every destination during a 12 month period to establish whether the profile of usage was a good fit with the current tariff package.

“We quickly discovered that most landline calls were of shorter duration than the current set up charge and minimum call charge and we were able to deliver immediate savings by matching the best available tariff to the current profile of usage. Landline calls also included a high proportion of international calls to Belzona’s distributor network.

Although these costs were capped, they were higher than the best available market rates. Next we turned our attention to mobile telecom costs. Belzona’s 54 strong team team of global technical consultants are required to make calls within the UK, internationally, from country to country and back to the UK.

 At first glance, the tariff looked extremely competitive for the complexity of international roaming needed. However more detailed investigations revealed that smaller increments in the charging basis for international roaming calls could be achieved, resulting in significant and sustainable cost reductions.”

Belzona were delighted with the telecom savings Expense Reduction Analysts had been able to effect and initiated a smarter cost management strategy to their distribution network. Belzona Polymerics Ltd is a privately owned company, based in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, manufacturing protective coatings and repair composites to reduce maintenance downtime in the power generation, petrochemical, water and oil & gas industries.

Belzona operates worldwide through a network of 238 distributors and has 5 global centres of excellence to support and sustain its impressive recent growth. Expense Reduction Analysts is a global leader in cost and purchase management with operations in 30 of the world’s largest countries including the USA, China and Europe.