Case Studies

Case studies below relate to activity in the following sectors

Financial Services, FMCG, Telecoms, Manufacturing, print management, Supply Chain Management, Food manufacturing & Distribution.

TASK: take a target amount of cost out of financial professional services fees.

What was done: To understand the cost drivers and baseline, a detailed invoice and documentation analysis covering the previous 2 years was done. How business was awarded and prices were agreed for all significant spends was discussed with the key internal stakeholders.  The result of the analysis together with a proposed strategy was presented to and agreed by the key executive sponsor. Strategy included reorganization of vendor management, channeling all advisor engagement decisions through a single conduit and requiring that all engagements over a certain level be subject to a rigorous and objective competitive process. The strategy was implemented successfully and took much more than the targeted reduction out of cost. The agreed processes, relationships and templates were then handed over to an appropriate internal resource to ensure ongoing benefit.

Added value: Reduced costs, better vendor performance, increased accumulation of organizational knowledge internally and externally.

TASK: to ensure best practice in the engagement of legal services and to reduce legal fees.

What was done: To understand the existing spend a detailed invoice and documentation analysis covering all of the significant engagements and the spend pattern over the previous 2 years was done. How business was awarded and prices were agreed for all spends was discussed and understood with the key internal stakeholders.  The result of the analysis together with a proposed strategy was presented to the key executive sponsor. Strategy suggested and agreed  included segmenting legal spend , appointing a number of suitable legal panels, channeling all advisor engagement decisions through a single conduit and requiring that all engagements over a certain level be subject to a rigorous competitive process. The strategy was implemented successfully .The agreed processes, relationships and templates were handed over to an appropriate internal resource to ensure ongoing benefit.

Added value: Lower cost, appropriate vendor selection

TASK: to reduce costs of a major project requiring external professional support

What was done: The project management team initially sought to identify and to engage external support on a time spent basis and to combine those resources with internal resources to deliver the required outcome. The project was awarded (to one of the Big 4 accounting firms) on foot of a competitive process on a capped prices basis with part of the capped price linked to the timely achievement of specified deliverables with stated assumptions.

Added value: Lower Costs,better project momentum  ,timely deliverables

TASK: to optimize the procurement of all professional engagements

What was done:  Agreed and embedded best procurement practice at senior management executive level including early involvement, increased use of fixed price contracts , increased use of capped price contracts , minimizing use of time & materials arrangements, creation of pools of preferred  vendors for each category segment, agreed rates and framework agreements for all top tier vendors,  compulsory tenders for all fees greater than specified amount and letters of engagement (LOE) or contracts for all assignments.