With centres across the UK, the charity had recently formed a Group structure and was keen to benefit fully from centralising services. They
didn’t have in-house expertise to achieve this so brought in our Business Analyst to provide the additional expertise. This additional capacity helped them successfully achieve savings on their procurement.
As a charity that relies on grants and donations ‘value for money’ is important to underpin how they operate.
How we helped
Initially the charity’s office supplies and commercial printing was reviewed. In order to do this there was a significant amount of collation and analysing of all its invoices. At that time the charity was using 18 different suppliers in its different regional centres.
Following this analysis and having tendered to the market, all the centres were gradually moved to a single office supplies company, leading to savings of 31% or £13,000 per annum.
The benefits
It was not just about the savings. The background work with each centre took a number of months of hard work to implement fully to ensure that good relationships and ordering procedures were in place to maximise savings.
Each month the charity worked hard to identify where savings could be achieved by checking each and every item ordered. The charity can then ensure it has a negotiated contract price and, if not, one is arranged with the supplier.
Any items that may have been ordered ‘off the contract list’ are highlighted to ensure staff know that there is a more cost effective item available. By focussing on implementation and ongoing management, savings accumulate each month, highlighting that monthly proactive management is essential.
Our Business Analyst to generate cash savings and streamline their ways of working.
Further work was then done to look at the charity’s procurement of electricity and gas. An Energy Procurement Strategy was needed to enable the charity to benefit from consolidated purchasing and administration.
This has delivered energy savings of 23% (£21,000 pa) on electricity and 29% (£10,000 pa) on gas. All meters continue to be monitored and monthly management and bill validation is carried out. This allows the charity to focus on its core skills, delivering excellent services for young people.
Why not use our Business Analyst’s knowledge and expertise to secure the best possible pricing and review your ways of working? Whether you’re a charity, business or a business adviser such as a firm of accountants we can help you. You can read more about this service here.
