A very special thank you also goes to one of our clients, Iqbal Wahhab, who has not only made a very generous donation but has extended the offer of a free meal for two at his fantastic restaurant Roast http://www.roast-restaurant.com/ for the highest single donation towards our fundraising effort.

Follow TeamAuditel on twitter at http://twitter.com/teamauditel

All donations gratefully received at  http://www.justgiving.com/teams/Team-Auditel

With regard to the other part of the title, I would like to “thank” the impatient driver that knocked Claire off of her bike yesterday and proceeded to drive-on, hopefully he managed to get to work on time. Thankfully Claire was un-hurt, some scrapes to the bike unfortunately. Not all *!*!holes though and for that a special thanks goes to the driver of the following car who stopped to assist.

Anyway that’s the negatives out of the way. The positives:-

• The Auditel team have had a very good start to the shirt sponsorship with a couple of significant companies agreeing to support us.
• More training miles behind us.
• The new saddle is much more comfortable.
• Claire advised me that raising my handlebars may alleviate my neck pain. Great suggestion Claire, perhaps one of the men on the team could make it……..light blue touch paper and retire!

Case Study:

Download a PDF copy of the case study.

Left to right: Ravi Khakhria and Denis Brennan, Auditel Consultants; Chris Jones, Finance and Administration Manager and Tessa Norgrove, Bursar of Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls; Claire Power-Browne and Steve Ray, Auditel Consultants

Auditel’s analysis has already saved 22% on utilities costs for Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls by ensuring they are on the most appropriate contracts and tariffs.

Tessa Norgrove, the School’s Bursar, was first introduced to Auditel by Claire Power-Browne and her Business Partner Steve Ray. Tessa and colleague Chris Jones have now been working with them and other Auditel consultants brought on board, since late 2009.

“We had worked with brokers and other consultants in the past and have always been very happy to meet with people who can help us improve our efficiency and effectiveness,” says Tessa.

Shortly after the working relationship started Claire and Steve invited their Auditel colleague Ravi Khakhria to assist them. Steve Ray commented, “having worked alongside Ravi for many other projects Claire and I had no hesitation in asking him to join us. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the initial areas that the school invited us to review”.

Chris, who is the School’s Finance and Administration Manager, continues, “I’ve had a lot of direct contact with the Auditel team over the past year and am very pleased with the service they’ve provided. Everybody we deal with is very professional and a delight to work with.”

So far, Auditel have reviewed the School’s gas, electricity, landline and mobile communications expenditures and have found savings up to 22% in these areas by moving the School onto more appropriate contracts and tariffs. In addition, they have recovered over £43,000 of incorrectly applied electricity charges.

As Chris says, “This is a very nice saving to have and as well as improving our cash position, means the impact of rising energy prices over the past few months has been mitigated.”

Going forward, Auditel have been invited to review additional categories, including Stationery and IT consumables as well as Janitorial Supplies.

A major strength of the Auditel approach is the collaborative working which allows teams to be formed of affiliates with expertise across a broad spectrum of specialist disciplines. It was this “virtual corporate structure” approach which led to Auditel colleague Denis Brennan being asked to help Tessa review the IT provision across the three Monmouth School sites.

“This project is in the very early stages (December 2010) but is going very well so far,” says Tessa. “We’re not just looking at cost on this project but at the IT management structure and service provision across the three sites so it’s quite complex. Even so, Denis expects to get an initial report to me by the end of the year.”

Savings Breakdown:

Electricity – 15% Saving
Gas – 16% Saving
Landline and Mobile Communications – 22% Saving
Plus electricity rebate of over £43,000 from a review of the supply criteria

Download a PDF copy of the case study.

Are you ready for the 2.5% increase in VAT in January? For most UK business to business operations the impact of the increase in VAT in January will be one that is largely just an administrative exercise.

If however you are an organisation that is not VAT registered then the new year is going to bring with it an increase of 2.12% on just about everything you purchase. Put simply you can neither claim it back or pass it on, unless you are able to convince your customers to accept it. That’s always assuming you are able to charge for the services you deliver, simply not the case for many charities.

Whilst Auditel can not reduce the VAT rate you pay (actually we can in certain areas), we can certainly find savings in your cost base that would more than compensate for the impending VAT increase.

Auditel has had many successes in reducing the overhead costs within the charity sector – see our testimonial page for just one example. Because of our results based fee structure it would cost you nothing to find out how we can help.

Left to Right: Adrian Burton, Chris Bridge, Laurence Fitch (team captain – because he’s done it before), Ed Brewer, Claire Power-Browne, Steve Ray, Denis Brennan

That was a shock! I guess that means that we get to dance again next week!

In the words of the panel of judges from our Winchester Head Office “just good people, real givers to the network, great business partnership, solid, honest, full of integrity, caring”.

It’s fair to say that we are genuinely thrilled to get the award if somewhat humbled by it.

We were presented with the award by Sir Bernard Ingham at the Auditel National Conference on Friday 29^th October.  This is an event we look forward to a great deal as it gives us an excellent opportunity to catch up with the majority of our 170 Auditel colleagues. The day was filled with excellent workshops and speakers, not least a very powerful and moving keynote speech from Col Stuart Tootal about his experiences in Afghanistan.  The days agenda complete we then took advantage of the short break before the evening dinner, award ceremony and charity raffle. A special thank you should go to all the donators of raffle prizes and auction items without whom it would not have been possible to have raised in excess of £3000 for Help for Heroes.

We would like to pass on our congratulations to all of the evenings award winners, particularly Denis Brennan (Consultants Consultant 2010) and Laurence Fitch & Ruth Dawe (Franchisee of the Year 2010).

Pete Arundale (Business Phones & Networks), Claire Power-Browne, Steve Ray, Sir Bernard Ingham

On Friday Auditel held their annual conference followed by an awards ceremony and fund raising event in the evening. One of the items up for auction was the Arsenal shirt worn by Alan Sunderland during the 1979 FA Cup Final. I was bidding against Laurence for a while but could see his determination – he finally got his prize for the sum of £1300.

I spoke to Laurence after the auction and was genuinely surprised by his passion for anything Arsenal. Apparently the 1979 FA Cup final had a very special sentimental place in his heart – “It was the first FA Cup final that I went to and I can still picture the goal that Alan Sunderland scored to win the game in the last minute. He has been my sporting hero since that day and when I heard the shirt was part of the auction I just had to have it. I come from a family of Arsenal supporters and can’t wait to tell them all. It will take pride of place in my house”

Congratulations Laurence, in my opinion you thoroughly deserved to get it!!

Steve

Well it is now sealed, no turning back. Registration is complete for the Great British Bike Ride 2011, a challenge that requires me and my team to cycle from Lands End to Twickenham.

When asked recently by a family member “is the event imminent?” I replied yes it’s September 2011.

At some point I will devise a proper training schedule but for the moment I will just set myself the target of covering more miles on my next ride than I did on my last.

I guess an added benefit from this challenge is the loss in weight – just by registering tonight I am already several pounds lighter.

Ed explains, “It’s a competitive business and in these difficult economic times, we wanted to make sure that our margins weren’t being eroded by overheads that were higher than they needed to be.

“In July 2007, I approached David Lowe, the Auditel consultant who has done such a great job for Pizza Express. He recommended his colleagues Steve Ray and Ravi Khakhria.”

Following their initial meeting it was agreed that Steve and Ravi would start by analysing and reporting back on all Relish’s gas and electricity costs.

Ed comments, “We were locked into an existing electricity contract and had to endure nine months of pain, but now we’re out of that and thanks to Auditel we are looking forward to significant savings at the end of this year. Savings which can make a substantial contribution to the profitability of a company of this size.”

Following this success with their gas and electricity costs, Ed has now instructed Auditel to investigate their water services and telecoms spend with the probable addition of other business cost areas to follow.

He concludes, “I am keen to grow Relish into a sizeable restaurant business in the UK. Having an ally like Auditel onboard to keep our costs under control, is invaluable and leaves us free to concentrate on our core business strategy.

“Not only have Steve and Ravi found us significant savings, but they have also been a pleasure to work with. The communication has been excellent and they have delivered on their promises. I couldn’t recommend them more highly.”