Expense Reduction Analysts get TOC on track with telecom costs. Landlines 17% saved. Email 30% saved. Print 50%, Stationery 25%

As one can imagine, a Train Operator Company (TOC) has massive communications costs, especially one that’s the umbrella operator for every TOC in the UK. And because this umbrella is funded by the companies it oversees, the ATOC clearly must make sure it gets the absolute best value on expenses.

To assure their subscribers, the executives at the ATOC called in Expense Reduction Analysts, who by using extensive discussion and analysis, were able to retain both existing landline and e-mail service providers – but at significantly improved costs.

But getting better prices from your existing service providers is far from just toughing it out with them for a cheaper deal. So how was it accomplished?

Analyst Kelly Mordecai was first on the scene, where he immediately agreed with ATOC that they needed to examine the costs involved in their e-mail services, as well as landline and mobile communications.

"From the initial discussions, we could clearly see the justification and comfort factor to our members, particularly given Expense Reductions Analysts expertise in certain areas of expenditure," said Chris Wade, Director of Finance at ATOC.

But, it wasn’t as simple as going over the books.

Kelly quickly saw that the communications assignments presented an extremely difficult challenge. To deal with the service-based issues particular to the industry, Kelly called in assistance from ERA analyst and telecommunications specialist Nigel Rosehill.

“From the first discussions with Kelly, we could clearly see the justification and comfort factor to our members of the Value Improvement Programme, particularly given Expense Reductions Analysts expertise in certain areas of expenditure," Nigel revealed.

That expertise was used to analyze the marketplace and to set benchmarks against current comparative cost levels. With those benchmarks in place, they had a firm footing when re-negotiating with current suppliers on behalf of ATOC.

“We were provided with the findings of the assessment to enable us to judge whether our existing suppliers could provide good value in the future,” said Simon Taylor, Management Services & Facilities Manager of ATOC.

“Indeed, our e-mail service received significant enhancements as well as reduced overheads!"

The next step was to analyze mobile phone costs, and although no significant savings could be found - the evaluation process gave ATOC the information they needed to assure their TOC subscribers that they were getting the best value in this cost area already.

Chris was highly impressed with Expense Reductions Analysts and the saving they achieved on insurance, "All projects have now been implemented and ongoing savings are being realized, pretty much on target."

Source: ERA