Cost Optimization in Corporate & Admin Support Services with ERA Group
While the day-to-day aspects of running an organisation can be handled by in-house staff, many organisations rely on outsourced professionals for services, such as IT support or legal counsel, and suppliers to provide and maintain the equipment necessary to keep their offices running smoothly.
However, it can be challenging to determine if these necessary aspects of your business cost more than they should.
ERA consultants assist clients with reviewing professional service expenses to assess cost-savings opportunities.
ERA’s knowledge of the market ensures that we are in a position to understand the best pricing available and to get those prices for our clients. We know what others are paying and the suppliers know that we know.
For the cost savings element of the reviews we undertake, a full and forensic analysis of current volumes and expenditure is undertaken to estimate precisely the value of future expenditure and potential savings that ERA could achieve. This analysis also provides potential suppliers with the information they require to tailor their responses to the specific needs of our client.
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Cost Categories
Marketing, Advertising & Media Services
Advertising – how to advertise products or services, boost brand awareness and drive sales – is a multi-faceted category involving diverse media such as print, radio, television, online and digital channels.
ERA Group helps organisations evaluate their business advertising spend vs. their objectives to determine if there are ways to reduce advertising expenses while getting the same or even better results.
Marketing and advertising as a key function of the business, often holds a significant budget responsibility. We will help you procure more for less, and achieve better value from your chosen specialist supplier, without affecting your ability to be flexible, creative and provide strategic direction for the company.
Food & Catering Services
Whether it’s providing food or meals on or off-site, businesses and institutions incur costs related to food services, including food catering services.
Catering companies often work with organizations to prepare and serve food at various events or as part of the services provided by the company.
ERA Group collaborates with clients to help them improve cash flow by taking a close look at corporate catering services, the costs associated with food service distributors and costs of food service supplies.
Our experts go to great lengths to capture your requirements to ensure the options they recommend are realistic, match your requirements and can be implemented seamlessly. They seek your agreement at each stage so that you are aware of their train of thought and can be reassured suggested outcomes satisfy your requirements.
Existing clients include State and independent schools, federations, trusts, colleges, universities, 3rd sector organisations, food wholesalers and re-sellers, workplace caterers, leisure companies and attractions, care groups and homes, holiday resorts, football clubs, airside VIP lounges and hospital caterers.
Mail Management
Whether for e-mail or letters, businesses rely on external services to send, store and manage ever-higher volumes of correspondence.
ERA Group helps organisations to find the most suitable options for their individual requirements and to identify savings opportunities.
This category is considered a strategic direct cost for clients and covers parcels, pallets and full load freight deliveries to UK customers, worldwide parcel deliveries and postage.
ERA has extensive expertise and success within the parcel category supported by high quality industry experience. By truly understanding the client’s needs and aspirations, ERA adopt best practise to improve rating, service and technology solutions for clients operating competitively in both B2B and B2C markets.
Postage is another cost area in which ERA has extensive experience and success.
Office Supplies, Equipment & Furniture
Office Supplies are something almost every organisation in the UK requires in some shape or form. The industry in the UK is worth almost £5 billion per year. At ERA we have been helping organisations to save money and rationalise their spending in this area for more than 20 years.
“Office Supplies” is not just stationery! Whilst it is about Post-It notes, pens and envelopes in varying sizes, this category covers a number of other spend areas also. For us Office Supplies captures anything and everything the average office needs to operate – including the tea and coffee.
Our experts have lots of experience looking at the wide range, including Furniture, printer and copier paper and toner cartridges. These areas are often blighted by poor procurement practices and a lack of focus and attention to detail on ‘things that don’t cost much’. Like anything else though, these costs can mount up, particularly in multi-site operations where purchasing is distributed across a wide range of operational staff.
Managed Print Services (Copiers, Printers, MFD's)
As print buyers will know, print is an unusual example of a “commodity market” in that there are no recognised retail price indices in which to measure price positioning. Considering that these costs are usually a significant proportion of the end sales price to the consumer, it is clear that the need to ensure competitive advantage on print is fundamental and significant focus is a consistent requirement.
Most of our clients who engage ERA to review this area are faced with making a decision on which manufacturer/print provider is suited to the produce the end product. With the options of faster running machinery, variable data and digital print technology to maximise market opportunities; it can be challenging, ERA are able to share experience and knowledge to help that process.
The UK market for Print has changed considerably over the past two decades, with improved technology, reductions in the number of manufacturers, as well as the influence of print management organisations.
Professional Services
From an operational viewpoint, the day-to-day aspects of running a business may be relatively predictable. The right people and processes are in place.
However, for specialised expertise (corporate lawyers, auditors, architects, etc.) businesses often contract with external professionals.
Knowledgeable, experienced ERA Group consultants work with clients to review professional services expenses and overall value.
Records & Information Management
Organisations tend to review Records Management costs at most every 3 to 5 years, and as documents are often stored off-site this can be a matter of out of sight, out of mind.
The complexities of Records Management contracts also encourage inertia, not least the application of Hostage Charges in the form of Exit or Permanent Withdrawal fees.
The introduction of GDPR in May 2018 is driving the review of current arrangements from a compliance perspective, but most organisations are at an extreme disadvantage when considering commercial terms.
Fortunately, ERA’s Records Management Team is active in the market every day negotiating & auditing the storage of millions of files & boxes across multiple suppliers.”
Corporate Travel Management (CTM)
Travel costs may be staggering in some companies.
To remain within sensible budgetary limits, businesses welcome the advice of ERA Group and their power of negotiation with a wide range of service providers.
Their intervention helps adding some extra cash to the bottom line whilst giving a more transparent understanding of spending patterns in the travel cost category.
Taxes
Understanding corporate taxes is a challenge for most companies, and many businesses require professional assistance with tax services, particularly business tax preparation.
Do cost-savings opportunities exist for tax preparation services?
ERA Group helps to analyze clients’ tax preparation fees to determine if those charges are reasonable and competitive in the marketplace.
This is ERA Group’s goal — to help clients unlock extra cash flow out of their overhead expenses.
Fleet Management
ERA Group experts in Fleet Management lend their skills to businesses to investigate all aspects of their car fleet and ensure specific needs are met, the best buying or leasing conditions are agreed upon and savings are found.
Printing
Printing services, and the need for printing supplies, vary widely from business to business.
Books, magazines, brochures, posters and other documents are examples of printed materials, yet each of these jobs may be printed using different processes and equipment depending on color, quantity and other variables.
Some companies require commercial printing services from printing companies who handle large-scale business printing needs, beyond standard desktop publishing.
