The London Borough of Ealing is the largest in west London, third largest of the London boroughs, with 310,000 residents, 13,365 businesses and a budget of £266 million.
With increasing pressure to deliver cost reductions and value for money across the organisation, Ealing are looking at improving processes to drive cost savings and efficiencies.
Ralph Brandhorst (senior production manager), in the central Marketing & Communications department is working with Claritum to develop systems and processes that will reduce time/costs associated with designing and producing all documents and any marketing and communications media. Within any organization there exists the hidden cost / time executives spend creating documents and ensuring they meet corporate branding guidelines, which could be reduced and used to make a greater contribution to service objectives.
To address this Claritum are proposing a complete solution for Ealing that encompasses branded templates, user portal interface, internal print management and costing and charging. This can be added to the existing Claritum deployment which ensures sourcing and procurement meet corporate requirements and deliver best value on every transaction. A combination of matrix and bid costings covers a wide range of media from photography and design to complicated mailings and distributions. An interface to internal council systems provides semi-automated financial transactions.
The bottom line benefits to Ealing are cost savings and process efficiencies. Less tangible but increasingly valuable benefits will be derived from strengthening the Ealing brand and improving the effectiveness of communications media.
Ralph Brandhorst said “We estimate the reduction in direct and indirect costs will be many times the costs of the system improvements as well as providing many non cost benefits. It is an area many public sector organisations are looking at”.
Phil Martin, Marketing Manager of Claritum said: “With the pressure on public sector spending we are delighted that Ealing are seeing real tangible efficiencies and savings from using Claritum. Our public sector clients are all reporting similar benefits and provide a best practice template for other local authorities. It is clear that the successes we have seen at our public sector clients provides proof that significant, measurable and sustainable value for money can be achieved from print, marketing and document services. We are seeing an unprecedented level of interest from councils, universities and other non for profits right across the country.”
How The London Borough of Ealing are planning significant savings and efficiencies
October 19th, 2010Sir Philip Green “Government spending up to 80% above market rate on printing”
October 12th, 2010The government is paying up to 80% above market price on many print jobs adding to a total annual print spend of £104m, according to Sir Philip Green’s review of Whitehall spending.
Green’s report into government efficiency, which was published this week, found that the prices paid by government for commodity purchases are often far from competitive.
He identified the lack of a centralised approach to buying goods and services, which has failed to leverage the buying power of the public sector and resulted in departments paying hugely different prices for the same items.
The capability of print buyers varied greatly across government departments while buying processes were often inconsistent, the report said.
Green added: “There is no reason why Government should not be as efficient as any good business. Any large organisation would want to use its credit rating and scale to buy efficiently.
One of the conclusions of this review is “scale”. Every department has not been used to make Government spending efficient.”
Among his recommendations to the government, Green advocated centralised procurement, the production of accurate spend and consumption data, managing down demand and specifiations, and pricing common items at the same level for all central government departments. This can be achieved through the use of technology such as e-Procurement.
Local authorities such as Ealing Enfield and Greenwich Councils have adopted such technology by implementing Claritum, which has streamlined their sourcing, procurement and invoicing processes, leveraged their in house expertise and optimised communications with external suppliers.
The software-as-a-service solution automates much of the process of specifying, costing, ordering and invoicing marketing print, stationery, documents, reprographics and creative services. The application can be deployed to large number of users from customers and budget holders to expert buyers and suppliers. Management have control over spend limits and controls and have real time management information to monitor performance across the supply chain. Claritum integrates with most leading ERP and financial systems such as SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards and Agresso.
More Pressure on local Governments.
September 22nd, 2010Chancellor George Osborne is due to deliver his Spending Review on Wednesday 20 October.
The June 2010 Budget said that departmental spending would have to be cut by £50bn a year by 2014/15, compared with 2010/11 levels
These cuts are putting even more pressure on the public sector and Government Offices to improve efficiencies and drive better value for money procurement than ever before.
A survey from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply in the UK suggested that as much as 60% of corporate spend is uncontrolled, meaning it does not have proper management approval and it cannot be properly accounted for.
As a consequence, many not-for-profit organisations are adopting Print Spend Management solutions in a bid to take control of expenditure, improve cost-base visibility and ensure that value for money is truly achieved.
By deploying Claritum’s Print Sourcing and Procurement platform, sustainable and measurable value for money can be achieved from a combination of price reductions, process improvements and minimised wastage, avoiding costly and disruptive outsourcing.
A variety of public sector and local government authorities are already using the system
Phil Martin Marketing manager said; “Local Authorities are seeing real tangible efficiencies and savings from using Claritum . It is clear that the successes we have seen at our other public sector clients provides proof that significant, measurable and sustainable value for money can be achieved from print and document services.
Our Local Council Clients are able to do Much more with less resource.
We look forward to the possibility of shared services. This will benefit all local Councils who are using Claritum”
Claritum CEO Speaks at Print Oasis Print Buyers Conference in Washington
July 27th, 2010Claritum exhibited at the Print Oasis Print Buyers Conference last week, which was held being held at the National Press Club in Washington DC and was designed for print buyers to discover practical skills and new technologies that will help streamline the print production process and save money for your their respective organizations. Attendees were able to network with industry peers and benefit from their lessons learned as well as learning about new solutions from exhibitors and speakers alike.
Print Oasis is the premier conference focused on the needs and challenges of print communications managers, print buyers, specifiers, and production professionals. Print buyers, designers, and marketers come together at this two-day conference and exhibition to learn about new and existing technologies and best practices for print production.
At the event Claritum CEO, James Samuels,introduced Claritum to the wider US audience, as well as outlining the use of technology to improve sourcing and procurement within the print category.
CEO James Samuels Addresses the Print Oasis Audience
Samuels said “Increasingly print buyers are under pressure to not just demonstrate savings and efficiencies but are being asked to manage more and more categories of expenditure. Without the tools (such as Claritum’s Sourcing Pro) to evidence this optimized performance, CFOs and CPOs may consider outsourcing to a managed service provider. As Print buyers are now being asked to manage more categories of spend, the use of sourcing and procurement technologies can only aid this process”
European businesses seeing benefits of SaaS
July 8th, 2010European businesses are increasingly seeing the potential benefits of cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS), according to a new study.
Research by analyst firm IDC (www.idc.com) has found that 60 per cent of businesses expect to be at least planning a migration to cloud services, with cost savings and efficiency as the main incentives.
Furthermore, it has been shown that SaaS will help drive the cloud grow from being worth £10.7 billion globally to £27 billion by 2013.
Claritum to Exhibit at Print Oasis Print Buyers Exhibition 2010
June 18th, 2010Claritum are set to Exhibit at Print Oasis Print Buyers Conference & Exhibit, on July 19 - 20, 2010
The event, being held at the National Press Club in Washington is designed for print buyers to discover practical skills and new technologies that will help streamline the print production process and save money for your their respective organizations. Attendees be able to network with industry peers and benefit from their lessons learned as well as learning about new solutions from exhibitors and speaker alike.
Print Oasis is the premier conference focused on the needs and challenges of print communications managers, print buyers, specifiers, and production professionals. Print buyers, designers, and marketers will come together at this two-day conference and exhibition to learn about new and existing technologies and best practices for print production.
Conference Highlights:
• Special Event: Special Legislative Intensive - Learn the legislative issues that affect the pricing and availability of print; Receive once-in-a-lifetime special training on how Congress works, how to petition congress on the issues surrounding print; Training from 9:30 – noon; Meetings on Capitol Hill starting at 2 pm. Special Intensive Attendees receive a free tour of Capitol Hill and an exclusive opportunity to meet with your Congressmen. Print Buyers Online.com is writing legislation to provide tax exemptions for buying companies who purchase print in a sustainable way. Join our efforts to pass this legislation and you could save your company hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
• Print Buyer Case Studies: Tired of the same old industry talking heads? You won’t find any of those at Print Oasis 2010. This format features real-life print buying heroes and heroines who provide tangible advice you can immediately put to use. Get real-world advice from the trenches.
• Print Oasis 2010 is a “Can’t Miss”: Hear actionable advice from top print buyers and marketers who have achieved great success in these uncertain times. Learn effective strategies that you can immediately implement within your company.
In addition to the comprehensive conference format, Print Oasis is pleased to offer the following exciting benefits to conference attendees:
• Educational sessions with dynamic print buyer guest speakers and subject matter experts
• More than 40 exhibitors including printers, proofing companies, major technology firms and paper manufacturers
• Print Communications Professionals International (PCPI) members receive $100 discount, and our robust monthly Printing Trends reports.
For more information on the event, please follow the link - http://www.printoasis.com/printoasis/PrintOasis.asp
Come and see us on stand F5!
Claritum Launch new White Paper
June 7th, 2010For most organisations complex indirect spend categories pose an opportunity for significant savings and efficiencies but are often seen as too challenging to address. Professional Services, Travel and Expense; Print and Marketing Procurement can represent substantial spends but require specialist expertise and technology platforms to achieve savings and efficiencies.
However, with cost pressure on most organisations, complex categories need to be considered a higher priority – especially as savings of 17-40% can be achieved.
Claritum have created a White Paper which focuses on one of the largest of these complex categories and is intended to demystify the approach to achieve savings and efficiencies. This is the first of a series of White Papers from Claritum addressing Print and Marketing Services Procurement.
Print and marketing services are surprisingly large spends for most organisations. Dependent on sector, this category can represent between 0.5% and 3% of revenues. According to research, expenditure on printed materials in the US totals US$167billion per annum and Euro243billion in Europe.
Yet much of this spend falls outside the visibility and control of a formal procurement program. According to Aberdeen, 80% of print is manually sourced using phone, fax and email; leading to higher than necessary costs, inefficiencies and errors.
Why? Print is typically difficult to capture and control as requirements are dispersed across the organisation and usually bought by whoever has the need. Marketing may have established long term relationships with suppliers or rely on their agencies to purchase print on their behalf – often at inflated margins. Most businesses and departments use printed materials and responsibility for buying it is often delegated to junior staff with little or no experience or understanding of what they are ordering.
Print can be a complex area of spend where minor variances in specification, date of order, production process or supplier selection having significant impacts on cost.
To download the full white paper FOR FREE please register your details here>>
SaaS going ‘mainstream’
May 7th, 2010The growing value of software as a service (SaaS) to businesses has been highlighted once again by a prominent media organisation.
In an article for the BBC, business editor Tim Weber claims that cloud computing and SaaS is going ‘mainstream’ and that organisations are seeing it as a way of cutting their capital expenditure.
Mr Weber also lays out the main reasons for the popularity of SaaS, including the cost-effectiveness, the scalability, mobility and the fact that services are always kept up to date.
The author adds: “Cloud computing can be applied nearly anywhere - the small retailer that needs a secure e-commerce website quickly and cheaply, the ferry operator that has huge computing spikes in May and June while 90 per cent of its IT system idle the rest of the year or the fire service that needs extra computing power to predict the movement of forest fires during the summer.”
Businesses reluctant about adopting SaaS were recently advised to dip their feet in the water first by trying non-critical services.
Buyers show lack of faith in spend data
May 7th, 2010Just under one-third of purchasers have a high degree of confidence in the data that measures their spending, according to a report.
In a survey of 150 procurement professionals by procurement technology firm Rosslyn Analytics, only 28 per cent of buyers said they believed their spend data was “complete and accurate”.
In addition, 31 per cent of respondents had a low level of confidence that the information was accurate enough for decision-making purposes. Forty per cent had a medium level of confidence.
“With recent advances in technology including automated data extraction, categorisation and enrichment services, it shocks me that procurement continues to have inadequate spend data,” said Rosslyn Analytics CEO Charles Clark.
“The sooner procurement professionals resolve data quality concerns, the sooner they will be able to focus on the serious business of sustainable cost savings.”
The report also found that 40 per cent of respondents used a third-party provider to gain additional information from available data.
Claritum’s data driven spend analysis program enables our Client’s to gain granular insight into their spend, or monitor performance of a current outsourcing arrangement, in order to achieve significant, measurable and sustainable savings and efficiencies.
SaaS growing among SMBs, says Microsoft
May 7th, 2010The findings of a new survey by Microsoft suggests the number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) using software as a service (SaaS) is continuing to rise.
According to the company’s second annual Microsoft SMB/Partner Insight Report, 12 per cent of SMBs now use SaaS solutions, compared to ten per cent a year ago.
It is also predicted by the firm’s partners that, by the end of this year, 19 per cent of these businesses will have at least some sort of solution in place.
Birger Steen, vice president of small and medium business at Microsoft, said: “The most competitive SMBs are investing in IT that will not only help protect and strengthen their business, but prepare them for success when economic conditions improve.”
Forrester Research recently reported that the global IT market will grow by 7.7 per cent this year, partly driven by SaaS.
