As part of the day Laurence and fellow Auditel consultant Ravi Khakhria gave a 55 minute workshop presentation entitled “Trimming the Fat”, designed to give business owners some expert knowledge and pointers on how to reduce essential services spend without impacting on business efficiencies.  We were very pleased with the positive feedback this presentation generated and thoroughly enjoyed discussing elements in more detail with visitors to our stand after the presentation.

If you would like more information about Auditel and how we could assist you in reducing your business overheads please contact us direct (01727 865501 or laurence.fitch@auditel.co.uk ).

On Sunday 18th September 2011 I completed my first half marathon – the Great North Run in Newcastle.

There were over 40,000 runners each with their own personal story and reason for running. There was an amazing atmosphere, great organisation, fantastic support from all the helpers, entertainers, charities, the thousands that lined the route – and what a send off from Mo Farah and the Red Arrows

I would like to thank all those that have supported me personally  – we have raised over £850 for Kidney Research – a great UK charity that is dedicated to funding research aimed at finding better treatments, and ultimately a cure, for kidney disease,  it’s not too late if you can support me and this very worthy charity – I have attached a link to my fundraising page: http://virginmoneygiving.com/ruthdawe

Ruth

I have received my race number, Kidney Research Running Shirt – just completed my longest training run and feel all set ……. bring it on!

“For me this completes a huge goal that over the last year and a bit has transformed me in many ways – never thought it physically possible for me to become a runner – could never jog for more than 30 seconds without collapsing – but all that pounding of the streets slowly has transformed me”

I am raising funds for Kidney Research– a great UK charity that is dedicated to funding research aimed at finding better treatments, and ultimately a cure, for kidney disease,  so if you can spare some support I have attached a link to my fundraising page….. http://virginmoneygiving.com/ruthdawe

thanks, I will post updates & a photo after the run

Ruth

This year’s Director of the Year Awards have once again attracted an abundance of exciting high-calibre entrants from across the UK. The shortlists have now been drawn up and the second round of judging is underway, which means this year’s competition is reaching its conclusion.

Founded in 1994, Auditel  is the UK’s premier cost and purchase management specialist. Auditel manages the full range of business expenditures for more than 3,400 clients ranging in size from multi-nationals to museums and from national charities to local manufacturers.

They are delighted to be sponsoring the Large Company category at the IoD Director of the Year Awards again this year and welcome the involvement in raising awareness and celebrating the very best of business leaders in the UK. The award is open to Directors from FTSE and other large listed companies who have shown excellence in their own region.

The ride from Lands End to Twickenham covered 350 miles with over 18,000 feet of climbing spread over 5 days and proved to be just as tough a challenge as we had all expected.  We all had our own reasons for wanting to do the ride but the one common link was that we wanted our participation in the ride to raise as much money as possible for Help for Heroes. I am very pleased and proud to say that as at today we have raised just over £8,000 and hope that this figure may yet rise a little further – thank you to everyone who helped us achieve this who range from my son’s schoolmates paying £2 for a Help for Heroes wristband to our shirt sponsors for their very generous support.

If you would like to donate please visit our Just Giving page:  https://www.justgiving.com/teams/Team-Auditel

Worryingly talk is already of what should Team Auditel do in 2012……in true Blue Peter style can we have answers on a postcard please !

Riders have averaged over 1,800 miles each in training -  the equivalent of riding from Lands End to John O’Groats and back again.  Currently we have raised nearly £5,000 to benefit Help for Heroes and hope to raise even more when we complete the ride next week.  Thanks must go to our shirt sponsors (Voice Mobile, Incom Business Solutions, Phase Office Supplies, Altodigital, Bluefin, Arrow Communications, Focus4U) which has helped to raise over £2,400 of our total.

If you would like to donate please visit our Just Giving page (https://www.justgiving.com/teams/Team-Auditel ).

It you would like to know how we are getting on we will be posting regular updates and pictures on our Twitter page ( http://twitter.com/teamauditel ).

I look forward to letting everybody know how the ride went….nearly as much as I am looking forward to that cold beer when we ride into Twickenham stadium next Saturday !

Laurence

Case Study:

Download a PDF copy of the case study.

Left to right: Laurence Fitch, Auditel Consultant; Graham Cowley, General Manager, Amber Leisure and Ruth Dawe, Auditel Consultant.

Day-to-day running of this growing business is the responsibility of second-generation Managing Director, Mark Pearson, and his General Manager, Graham Cowley.

In early 2009 they took the decision to undertake a review of their utilities expenditure but realised there was no way they could do this effectively, or implement an on-going programme of cost management, themselves. An online search led them to Auditel Consultants Ruth Dawe and Laurence Fitch and, after an initial meeting, Graham quickly realised that engaging their services would be a no-lose situation for Amber Leisure, providing the potential for substantial savings and additional expertise without the costs of employing an inhouse resource.

Ruth and Laurence’s initial remit was to review stationery, electricity, phone line and call costs across the entire business with a view to eliminating unnecessary expenditure and enhancing profitability. Electricity was a particular priority due to the complicated nature of billing across the multiple sites and the cash flow issue of re-billing residents in arrears for electricity already purchased by Amber Leisure. To Graham’s delight, Ruth and Laurence took this challenge in their stride, immediately putting more than half of their £98,000 spend out to tender (the proportion not in contract) to identify and implement savings of 36.4%. What’s more, the detailed analysis undertaken for this process highlighted incorrect Climate Change Levy and VAT charges applied to a number of sites by the incumbent supplier. Ruth and Laurence therefore set about obtaining rebates totalling a further £11,326. Savings against the initial communications and stationery spends were similarly impressive, at 35% and 34% respectively, with more savings implemented across all three cost areas as a result of Ruth’s and Laurence’s on going monitoring and management programme.

Naturally, Graham is delighted with these results. “The savings have been very good and have definitely enhanced our cash flow position. The structure of our electricity spend is a good case-in-point. With over 1,000 holiday homes we effectively pay the electricity in one go at the start of the year and then re-bill to customers at the end of the season, so Auditel’s negotiations to ensure our electricity rates are as low as possible – and correct for our needs – mean less money is coming out of the business to start with and our position is stronger overall.”

However, it’s not just the savings but the quality of service provided by Auditel that Graham is pleased with. “The relationship we have with Ruth and Laurence is first class and the Auditel service has been everything we hoped it would be. Their expertise and knowledge has saved us a lot of money and helped us maintain a healthy cash flow but it’s also saved us a lot of time by taking away all the hassle of negotiating and dealing with suppliers and by streamlining our purchase ledger function. This means Mark and I can focus on the day-today running of the business and on developing new, growth areas like our motorhome hire division.”

Savings Achieved:

Electricity – 36.4% Saving
Plus a rebate for billing errors of £11,326
Telecoms – 35% Saving
Stationery – 34% Saving

Download a PDF copy of the case study.

Case Study:

Download a PDF copy of the case study.

Left to right: Ruth Dawe, Auditel Consultant; John Kitchen, RAF Museum’s Corporate Service Director and Laurence Fitch, Auditel Consultant

John Kitchen, the Museum’s Corporate Service Director since 2003, has seen the organisation change and grow, with major re-developments and new permanent exhibitions at both of their sites. A natural sceptic about the use of middle-men to make cost savings, John was nonetheless intrigued by a document sent out by Auditel consultants, Ruth Dawe and Laurence Fitch, that landed on his desk in late 2008, and which coincided with concerns he was already having about the museum’s communication costs and two previous, but failed, attempts to implement savings.

After an initial meeting John engaged Ruth and Laurence to carry out a thorough review, focusing firstly on charges associated with fixed line and mobile communications and secondly on the museum’s Private Networks infrastructure.

Initial investigations into the Museum’s landline contracts showed that, while not officially part of the MoD, the museum was included in the keenly priced £3.5 million Commitment Contract with BT. However, drawing on the experience of colleague William Ball, a thorough analysis of 72,000 landline calls found that their particular call profile was not an ideal match for this contract and, when put out to tender, the Auditel team identified and delivered combined savings for line and call traffic of 12.9% against the existing MOD/BT plan. A review of maintenance contracts for the switchboards resulted in further savings of 28% per year.

Despite the Museum signing a new 24-month mobile contract with Orange just one month before Auditel were engaged, Ruth and Laurence carried out a review of this category anyway. A review that identified a billing error of £44 per month for handsets, for which Auditel obtained a rebate and liaised with Orange to ensure charging would be correct going forward.

With landlines and mobiles under management, Ruth and Laurence moved on to reviewing the Museum’s private networks, drawing on the expertise of their colleague, Terry Crouch to find and implement significant savings of £22,810, or 74%, in this complex area.

John Kitchen remarks, “Since the presentation of their initial report what’s been so remarkable about the service provided by Ruth, Laurence and their team has been their professionalism, the ongoing support we’ve received and the manner in which they’ve dealt, and continue to deal, with suppliers on our behalf. It takes a huge amount of pain away from me because they handle everything so effectively. All I have to do is sign a couple of letters giving them permission to do all the hard work – I’ve been really impressed. “

“As a quasi-governmental department we are part of an initiative to curb the use of consultants in the public sector but, with a £50m development at our London site and cuts to Grant-In-Aid possible, I would like to extend Auditel’s remit to cover more business cost areas if we’re allowed to do so. I would count myself as being a sceptic where organisations like Auditel are concerned but there’s no doubt they’ve provided value for money for us.”

Savings Achieved:

Private Networks – £22,810 – 74% Saving
Fixed Line Telecoms – 12.9% Saving
Telephone Maintenance – 28% Saving
Mobile Rebate of £44/month for handsets

Download a PDF copy of the case study.

Unfortunately cuts from the CSR only represent part of the picture.  Recent rises in VAT are expected to cost the sector up to £145 million per annum in terms of irrecoverable VAT at a time when charities are also being hit by price rises for energy and other essential services.  Additionally, one of the side effects of the recession has also seen 39% of charities report an increase in demand for their services, placing further pressure on limited resources.

It was interesting to note that of those Finance Directors responding to the survey over 40% felt that they would have to cut back on services in the next year and 38% expected to have to introduce redundancy measures.  Either of the above scenarios are potentially very damaging to a charities image and the authors of the survey recommended that charities “review critically their cost base to understand whether further savings can be made if necessary”.

As the UK’s leading independent cost management consultancy we fully appreciate charities need to maintain a low cost base but can understand how difficult this is to achieve without access to specific market knowledge, tools and experience available to Auditel.  We have an excellent track record of delivering sustainable performance driven cost reviews within this sector and are currently working with over 140 charities nationwide, helping to ensure that more of their money and time is spend on the core services they deliver rather than their daily overheads.

If you would like to know more about Auditel, or would like to arrange a meeting with Ruth or Laurence to see if we can help you reduce your total cost of purchase, please contact us below.

Please click on the link if you would like to read the full survey: Managing in a downturn: Responding to life after the Comprehensive Spending Review

“Since the presentation of their initial report what’s been so remarkable about the service provided by Ruth, Laurence and their team has been the professionalism, the ongoing support we’ve received and the manner in which they have dealt and continue to deal with suppliers on our behalf.  It takes a huge amount of pain away from me because they handle everything so effectively.  All I have to do is sign a couple of letters giving them permission to do all the hard work – I’ve been really impressed.”

“As a quasi-governmental department we are part of an initiative to curb the use of consultants in the public sector but, with a £50m development at our London site and cuts to Grant-In-Aid possible, I would like to extend Auditel’s remit to cover more business cost areas if we are allowed to do so.  I would count myself as being a sceptic where organizations like Auditel are concerned but there’s no doubt they’ve provided value for money for us”.

If you would like to know more about the programme Auditel conducted for the RAF Museum please contact us.