IBB Solicitors identify £142,000 savings

IBB Solicitors is West London’s leading law firm and recognised in Legal 500 as a South East regional heavyweight. A full service law firm handling complex legal work for both businesses and individuals, IBB Solicitors is headquartered in Uxbridge, Middlesex with offices in Chesham, Buckinghamshire.

The beginning of the relationship between IBB Solicitors and Expense Reduction Analysts was rather unusual, as David Rogers explains: “One of my colleagues had done some work at IBB a long time ago. Then, in 2008, with the recession looming, the partners very sensibly considered various cost saving measures, and the Finance Director, Martyn Green, remembered us. IBB rang Expense Reduction Analysts Group Office and I was fortunate enough to be asked to respond to the enquiry.

“I must say that IBB were a joy to deal with from the outset, and we quickly agreed to start by looking at three categories – Document Storage, Office Supplies and Business Print. My colleague, Derek Hodd, did a fine job and achieved savings of between 39 and 54 percent on each.

“Indeed, I have been fortunate, as the relationship has progressed, to be able to call upon the services of others in the Expense Reduction Analysts network – Nadim Vanderman achieved significant savings in Postage and DX Costs, and Brian Pinner joined the project to work on Photocopiers.”

The savings that Expense Reduction Analysts achieve is often down to our thorough examination of the client’s spend, and our ability to consider the whole spectrum of available options.

IBB’s Mobile Communications project was a case in point. Here, detailed analysis of every call made prompted us to recommend that IBB completely reverse the structure of their mobile phone package: where before they had enjoyed a low handset rental charge, but had paid for every call, we now suggested that they switch to a higher handset rental with a bundle of pre-paid call-time. The result was a 36% saving.

In all, the nine categories that Expense Reduction Analysts worked on for IBB yielded overall savings of £142,000, a figure that should be seen in the context of the recession.

As Martyn Green, Finance Director at IBB Solicitors, explains, Expense Reduction Analysts were a valuable partner at such a time: “Any business faced with a recession has to take action, and we were fortunate to form a strong partnership with Expense Reduction Analysts when we did. The savings that David Rogers and his team have achieved have been very helpful. They have assisted the firm in planning for the future by feeding their savings forecasts into our budget.”

AW Champion identify over £73,000 in annual savings

Established more than 80 years ago, AW Champion is a timber specialist with nine branches across the South East. The company sources its own timber and markets itself on providing quality wood at competitive prices.

While the business has continued to grow in recent years, an ambitious cost reduction exercise has enabled the company to redirect more money into attracting new business.

Steve Bowden, financial controller and company secretary, embarked on a detailed review of the company’s suppliers on a project-by-project basis.

“We initially looked at specific areas such as print and stationery, before expanding our review to include a range of costs, from waste disposal to merchant cards,” explained Steve.

“Whilst we were happy with the level of service we were receiving from our suppliers, we wanted to make sure we were getting the most competitive rates. By enlisting the help of Expense Reduction Analysts, we were able to get a clear view of where real savings could be made.”

The company’s marketing team were closely involved in the process and savings of over £15,000 were made on marketing print alone.

“The money saved has allowed us to redirect our marketing spend in a more targeted way. We now focus more funds on attracting new business and extracting more business out of existing customers,”

said marketing manager Mike Bird.

As well as reviewing costs, suppliers were also examined for their environmental credentials. Sustainability is a high priority for AW Champion and suppliers are independently audited for the Responsible Purchasing Policy (RPP) of the Timber Trade Federation and Forests Forever.

“The printer we chose was very competitive on price and also environmentally friendly. They understood why such considerations were really important for us,” added Mike. Overall, AW Champion saved over £73,000 combined for stationery, marketing and business print and merchant card costs from the review, which included a saving of 40 percent on stationery, 28 percent on marketing print and over 16 percent on merchant cards.

“Our approach is to bring together like minded companies, which helps improve relationships throughout the supply chain,” said Paul Gannon, the consultant at Expense Reduction Analysts who carried out the review.

“There was a tendency to just make every procurement decision on a case-by-case basis with each hotel acting in silo,” explains Paul. “We needed to really look closely at our costs and take a fresh approach to how we purchased everything from janitorial products to catering supplies.”

The core focus of Maria Mallaband Care Group (MMCG) is on providing high quality care for all of their residents. During a period of rapid growth, it was imperative that Expense Reduction Analysts’ review of their costs did not in any way compromise this. In fact, as the project unfolded, MMCG’s management team benefited from Expense Reduction Analysts’ intervention: knowing that their key areas of expense were under expert control allowed them to focus more closely on the strategic changes they had to make in order to accommodate the expansion of their work.

Expense Reduction Analysts consultants Neil Cullen and Julia Goodfellow-Smith led a team of experts from the Expense Reduction Analysts’ network. Julia herself is an expert in office supplies, and the review has encompassed expense categories as commonplace as stationery and utilities, as well as those as specialised as medical supplies. In all areas, the consultants’ expertise has been apparent to MMCG.

“Debjani Duncan, Expense Reduction Analysts’ medical supplies expert, clearly knows the products and market place extremely well. Her review has meant that we now use a product range better suited to both our business and our residents, our staff are better trained, and we have made significant cost savings into the bargain.” – Vicky Craddock, Operations Director, MMCG.

With over 30 homes, Maria Mallaband Care Group is one of the UK’s leading care home providers, renowned for offering luxurious, modern facilities and outstanding services. Maria Mallaband ensures its residents receive a superior level of care, while maintaining a sense of dignity and enjoying a high standard of living.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Glenn Cotter, Expense Reduction Analyst consultant, Chris Elton, Finance Director at Just Car Clinics, Adam Wheatley, Expense Reduction Analyst consultant, Mike Crowe, Financial Controller at Just Car Clinics

Just Car Clinics is the second largest independent chain of collision repair centres in the UK, with 620 staff in 25 locations across the North, East and Central England, specialising in motor collision repair and accident damage rectification of around 45,000 cars, vans and motorbikes every year.

Neil Kirk, Managing Director of Howard Basford Ltd., recommended Adam Wheatley of Expense Reduction Analysts to Chris Elton, Finance Director at Just Car Clinics, at a meeting of their trade body, Auto Body Professionals, in October 2005. Though the referral was a warm one, it was far from a done deal.

Chris Elton takes up the story: “I must say that I was initially very sceptical indeed, but I was persuaded by the strength of the recommendation that I should let Expense Reduction Analysts show me whether they are as good as was claimed.”

Initially two projects – Waste and Power – were launched. Chris Elton was impressed: “In both cases, Expense Reduction Analysts delivered significant savings. More important, however, was the way in which the whole process was managed. They worked closely with us to make sure that they understood our requirements in detail, and they then sourced targeted supply solutions that specifically met our needs.

“My fear that an excessive focus on price would lead to quality and service difficulties proved entirely unfounded. I also expected to be unhappy with the savings calculations and was surprised that even seemingly complex areas could be accommodated by a savings methodology that is both straightforward and transparent.”

As a result of the success of the first two projects, Just Car Clinics asked Expense Reduction Analysts to review their Stationery and Landline costs. Looking at the broader picture of business processes Chris Elton comments further: “The Stationery project delivered savings that exceeded our expectations. The Landline project is being implemented across our sites on a phased basis. In this case, during the initial review, it was noticed that the ratio of lines to quantity of calls was high. Further site surveys identified a number of lines that were no longer needed.

“A solution using hosted VOIP was proposed which has had the advantages of removing unwanted lines, removing the need for hardware, such as switches, (which in some cases were due for replacement) and providing free calls between sites, as well as a much more flexible system that could grow with the company.”

Expense Reduction Analysts’ initial term of engagement for both Power and Waste came to an end, but, in both cases, Just Car Clinics retained their services on an ongoing basis. Key to this decision was Expense Reduction Analysts’ willingness to take on board changes as the client’s business developed.

Chris Elton praises the category specialists involved: “Judith Ashurst, who undertook the Power project, had effectively managed the complexities inherent in the transfer of newly acquired sites and we knew that we could trust her to continue to do so for us. Similarly, our profile of Waste services never stood still, and Glenn Cotter proved that he could always be relied upon to look after Just Car Clinics’ best interests.

“Since our commercial relationship with Expense Reduction Analysts moved from shared savings on a like-for-like basis to a monthly retainer, they have been able to broaden their remit to considerable benefit. In particular, Glenn has fundamentally changed our Waste practices with a strategy of maximising recycling and balers where cost effective to do so. Not only has this delivered considerable further savings, but it has been environmentally beneficial too.”

Chris Elton sums up the value of Expense Reduction Analysts to Just Car Clinics: “What has impressed us most about Expense Reduction Analysts is that they have demonstrated again and again that they put our interests first. We know that if there was ever a problem, we could trust Adam Wheatley to solve it in a way that is in everyone’s best interests. We could not recommend Expense Reduction Analysts more highly.”

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.

Andrew Robertson of Expense Reduction Analysts approached RoSPA early in 2009: “I was fortunate in some ways that Mark Penny had recently joined as Finance Director,” says Andrew. “Part of Mark’s remit was to take a close look at costs, so he was open to our recommendations.” Utilities were the first category of costs to be investigated, and they provide a good example of Expense Reduction Analysts’ holistic approach.

Andrew Robertson: “With a number of sites, and imminent renewal dates, we had to act quickly. The renewals were, unfortunately, fragmented, putting RoSPA in a less than ideal position when it came to negotiating discounts. However, we worked by degrees to align the renewals and strengthen RoSPA’s leverage. I am indebted to my colleague, Richard Clayton, for his specialist knowledge in this area. After bringing the renewals into line, he achieved a saving of 45%.

Calling in specialist expertise “Indeed, I am fortunate to be able to call upon such wide-ranging expertise from across the Expense Reduction Analysts network – in RoSPA’s case, Mike Stevenson worked on Office Supplies, Nadim Vanderman on Postage and Pritesh Patel on Communications (mobiles). “Special mention must be made of Ian Middleton’s work on Merchant Card Fees. Merchant Card Fees are made up of bank charges and payment service charges and RoSPA were being billed on a percentage basis. Ian switched them to an alternative payment scheme, which resulted in 16% and 96% savings respectively.

Mark Penny, Director of Finance & Administration at RoSPA, sums up the benefit of Expense Reduction Analysts’ work: “As a charity we are always looking at ways to reduce costs but Andrew and his colleagues were able to assist us in the process by bringing new insights into how best to achieve this. They did not simply renegotiate but looked at each category of expenditure holistically, worked out what was best for us and made recommendations for a long term solution.

“Such breadth of vision enabled them to align all of the utility renewal dates, to give us greater bargaining power. It also prompted them to recommend our changing the basis of our Merchant Card Fees, which effected a substantial cost reduction. I would highly recommend their services.”

Recognising the need to focus on reducing operating costs to generate profit improvement, but without a specific purchasing function, Daniel Buck, Finance Manager for the Donnington Valley Group, acknowledged that a more structured approach was needed and so engaged the services of Expense Reduction Analysts, the UK’s largest cost and purchase management consultancy.

He says: “Central to this process was the need to be sensitive to the needs of the business and our quality requirements.” The initial strategic review in 2006 identified £2m of non-core costs, such as utilities, laundry services, print and stationery for independent analysis, which led to an overall saving benefit of 21% – a profit improvement in excess of £105,000 for the Donnington Valley Group. The initial project was so successful that it is now part of an ongoing programme of business expenditure reduction, which is proving more critical than ever given the current economic downturn.

A forensic analysis of the company’s business expenditure led to cost savings in several core areas, attaining for example, a reduction of 44% on business print and 29% on promotional print – a total of over £51,000. The analysis demonstrated that the Donnington Valley Group could achieve quantifiable cost reductions by maximising opportunities with a single local printer who could meet all their needs. Utilising specialist knowledge helped the Group to understand that a small local company was more beneficial in both relationship-building and cost-saving terms than if using one or two larger national companies to fulfil their print requirements.

Daniel also points to the savings made in stationery costs: “Expense Reduction Analysts analysed 12 months of invoices, they knew exactly what was being spent and saw that we had a diverse range of suppliers to meet all our needs. If we had done the review ourselves, we would have just reviewed our lead supplier, thereby not generating the same depth of knowledge and understanding of how cost savings could be made. As a result of the review, which led to streamlining the number of suppliers used and negotiating better payment, a cost saving of 22% was made on stationery.

Other cost savings included a 14% (£36,372) reduction in Laundry Services for the Donnington Hotel and Golf Club. Daniel says it was vital to get the right supplier and as well as benchmarking costs, the tender process involved asking the potential suppliers to actually make a bed. The successful supplier was the one who gave it a go, highlighting the need for not just cost cutting, but for maintaining the high standards required by the Group and truly understanding their requirements.

Daniel points out that with laundry in particular, it was vital to have stakeholders really involved in the review outcomes, saying it is imperative that individuals are on board at grass-roots level to help drive things forward and develop positive, long-term relationships. For example, if the laundry supplier said they will deliver between 7-9am but don’t, this needs to be highlighted; Expense Reduction Analysts remain involved and where the supplier does not fulfil their requirements, they intervene.With limited national companies to choose from, the 21% and 15% cost savings for Utilities and Landline Telephone respectfully, were achieved largely through renegotiating with existing suppliers.

In addition to the eight projects which directly led to significant cost savings, a further 11 cost categories were reviewed with various levels of input, including market competitor ‘health checks’ to ensure the Donnington Valley Group were using the most appropriate supplier, or simply finding an alternative supplier who could better meet the Group’s needs. Says Daniel: “The cost savings achieved have had a significant impact on our bottom line, and importantly, we have demonstrated best business practice and not just cost cutting. Lots of hard work has gone into the expenditure reduction programme, and we’re now much more aware of the many different solutions to our requirements than before.” According to Daniel another positive impact of the profit improvement exercise has been the creation of a cost conscious culture within the organisation, which has also raised the credibility of the purchasing function.

Paul Gannon, a consultant with Expense Reduction Analysts who carried out the cost review, adds: “The easiest way to retain and increase profit is by reducing unnecessary costs. For example, the £105,000 cost savings that Donnington Valley has generated is equivalent to increasing sales by circa £650,000, based on a typical industry net profit of 8%.”

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has been promoting animal welfare for more than 25 years. The largest alliance of animal welfare societies, WSPA has a vision of a world where animal welfare matters, and animal cruelty ends.

WSPA Senior Management Team had been aware for some time that their travel procurement was a cause for concern: they had suspected that they were paying more than they needed to for their travel and accommodation, and certain members of staff were not happy with the incumbent Travel Management Company (TMC).

Chris Byron of Expense Reduction Analysts was managing the account and had already introduced his colleague, Derek Hodd, who was undertaking a print cost reduction project on a gain share basis.Derek consulted with Henry Bennett, Finance Director at the charity, on the travel project. Derek takes up the story: “My initial analysis showed clearly that WSPA did not have an optimal travel set-up for their travel bookings. The incumbent TMC was not providing a good service with the result that some members of staff were booking their own flights and hotels online.

This had led to a lack of managerial control over travel costs, losing the charity money. “There was also the ‘duty of care’ dimension to consider. I explained to WSPA that, since the Hatfield rail disaster, the onus was now totally on the employer to ensure its staff’s safety whilst travelling and that consequently a travel policy should be put in place, covering everything from when and how to book travel, through to what to do in emergencies and rules on aspects such as not driving within 24 hours of an overnight flight. Without this policy in place, WSPA could be liable under both Health and Safety legislation and the Corporate Manslaughter Act.

“This meant that the travel project was quite a wide-ranging undertaking, but I have to say that, throughout, WSPA was a pleasure to work with because they were very open-minded and receptive to my input. From the start, it was decided that I should act on a consultancy basis, rather than earning a percentage of their savings. This is slightly less usual practice for Expense Reduction Analysts than the gain share arrangement but it allowed me to spend the time I needed in developing WSPA’s travel policy and procurement channel.”

Step-by-step, Derek implemented the systems that WSPA needed. At the heart of this was the concept of traveller tracking. Every piece of communication and every booking could now be tracked so that management could easily see the location of staff in the case of any emergency and also that staff were acting within the requirements of the travel policy. In order to achieve this, all online booking was outlawed and a new payment method, via a virtual credit card, was introduced so that every transaction was visible.

Derek Hodd explains the significance of this: “If a staff member repeatedly refuses to accept the best deal on flights and insists on travelling on a more expensive airline, this is now immediately apparent to WSPA management.”

Once the policy was written, Derek created and distributed a tender document to select a new TMC. The short-listed companies were asked to cost several sample routes, and this exercise showed that savings of 20-30% could be expected from a new travel partner, when compared with the prices offered by the previous TMC. The benefits of the new policy, systems and TMC are manifold for WSPA. Complete visibility enables tighter management and therefore reduced costs. The new TMC itself offers better prices and the policy protects WSPA from liability and their employees from harm whilst travelling.

The next phase of the project is to automate the entire travel expenses system, to give WSPA an end-to-end picture of any trip – from initial request, through managerial authorisation, budgetary allocation and booking through to the capture and integration of incidental expenses occurred whilst abroad. This will give WSPA a hugely valuable database of travel information.

Derek Hodd summarises, “Travel procurement is not easy to control. It’s not like selecting a telecoms provider with a clear set of unchanging tariffs. The purchase of every flight and every hotel room is a separate operation and, as such, is subject to inefficient handling and uncontrolled spending. WSPA’s openness to change means that they now have a set of watertight policies, which will save them money, time and the risk of liability.”

Henry Bennett, Finance Director at WSPA, comments on the project so far, “We knew that we needed a travel policy, but without Derek it would never have happened. We were very happy to retain him on a consultancy basis, because, right from the outset, his knowledge of the whole area was obviously superb. In addition, his tenacity in making sure that each process was implemented is to be commended. He has transformed this vital part of our expenditure.”

Nick Higgins is the school’s business manager and is responsible for its finances and ensuring that they meet with the Financial Management Standard in Schools – a benchmark introduced by the government two years ago to ensure best practice across the sector.

“We are spending public money which has been allocated to us to spend on educating young people,” says Higgins. He continues: “We need to see the maximum amount possible invested directly into education rather than on overheads and we have very strict procurement rules which aim to ensure this happens. As part of this approach Stantonbury Campus teamed up with Expense Reduction Analysts, the UK’s largest cost and purchase management consultancy, to undertaken a review its operating costs.

Added Higgins: “We wanted to identify where we could make savings without compromising on quality. The review led us to replacing 14 photocopiers with newer models and securing an improved level of service. We achieved both and have made a saving of £15,855 in the first year. This money is then available to invest elsewhere and helps us to raise the standard of education provided by the school.”

Andrew Lees, consultant at Expense Reduction Analysts, said: “Cost savings are often hidden within organisations but by forensically analysing each cost area they can be identified and the savings can be invested in helping to further the organisation’s goals, rather than paying for overheads.”