Here you can read some case studies that have been submitted by ACMC members.
A college in Southern England called in an ACMC member. One of the recommendations concerned changing electricity supplier, which produced a saving of 35% worth £36,000 per year.
The same client asked for a further site to be reviewed. This time a recommendation to reduce the availability from 150kva to 35kva saved a further £2,600.
A firm of lawyers paid their gas supplier promptly each time a bill was sent to them. An ACMC member was engaged to review the utility costs of the practice.
The gas consumption looked suspiciously high. An investigation revealed that the modern gas meter already recorded consumption in cubic metres. The supplier's bills showed the readings in 100's of cubic feet. As the bills were based on cubic metres, the readings were therefore unnecessarily multiplied by 2.83 to convert them.
This error was reported to the client and then to the gas supplier. The client received a large refund and future bills subsequently averaged 65% less than before.
A group of companies which includes chemist shops, hairdressers and public houses/night clubs had already been advised by a large cost management consultancy that there were no savings to be made. They were delighted to find that this was not the case when one on our members carried out a review.
Recommendations saving £9,000 per annum on gas and electricity were implemented. Other business overheads are still being analysed with more savings likely to follow.
A client operating a large swimming pool used by paraplegic Olympic athletes asked one of our members to review the charges levied by the water company.
The member arranged for sampling tests to determine the quality of the waste water produced during the pool cleaning cycle. Despite a degree of bureaucratic obstruction on the part of the water company, the evidence of the tests 'persuaded' the water supplier to reduce its charges by over £3,000 per year.
A review of the telephone costs of a large theme park by one of our members, uncovered a significant number of redundant emergency lines from various parts of the site to the boardroom. These had all been superceded and replaced through the issue and use of mobile phones by staff.
The redundant lines were cancelled saving £1500 per year.
This was only a small part of a much larger saving, but illustrates the clear thinking approach and attention to detail which is a hall mark of ACMC members.
An Instrument Manufacturer with International Agents around the world was using BT and Cable & Wireless for voice traffic. In addition, the Company's representatives were using BT chargecards when abroad. One of our members carried out a review.
After careful analysis and discussions with the client about future plans for the Company, our member recommended a more suitable carrier which resulted in a 44% reduction in call charges and a 40% reduction in chargecard costs.
A client with 350 handsets needed help in reducing mobile phone charges. An analysis was carried out to determine the most suitable tariff arrangement. Tenders were sent out to other suppliers and the quotation/proposals were carefully evaluated by the ACMC member.
After further discussions and renewed offers, the client was able to reduce his costs by almost 30% saving £120,000 per year.
A client had been looking to improve internal telecommunications and assist customer access to various departments by streamlining the handling of incoming calls. The existing switchboard was five years old and still had two years left to pay on its lease. The system was an all analogue set up with calls routed through a receptionist before transfer to the appropriate department.
Four different suppliers submitted proposals, all of which involved replacing the existing switchboard and installing new equipment, with costs ranging from £10,800 to £15,000. An ACMC member was asked to evaluate the competing offers. The ACMC member decided to check whether the existing system could be upgraded and contacted a dealer who could support the system already in place. A meeting was arranged to establish the precise requirements of the client and to evaluate fully the best option. This resulted in a new proposal to upgrade the system and included ISDN 30 with direct dialing in (DDI) and call line identity (CLI) along with other features, allowing the client to make the quantum leap in customer service required.
The cost for the upgrade? £2,900, saving the client £8000 on capital expenditure, and the potential charge for ending a lease plan two years before full term.
