How Cambridge MC Reduced Over $2.85m in Costs for Global Network Provider

In a challenging project for a risk-averse client

Cambridge MC was engaged by a leading provider of connectivity solutions for the finance industry. With services spanning over 100 cities across the globe, they had a significant spend with third-party providers.

Driven by the need to have a competitive cost base to counter the pressure from their clients on pricing, they wanted to have a partner review and negotiate their existing estate under a cost reduction programme.

Based on the sector, they are very risk-averse and they needed a partner who could accommodate (yet challenge) their risk appetite and some very specific client requirements. They also needed a partner who understood current market costs globally and could competently handle the negotiations, allowing the in-house team to concentrate on day-to-day business.

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The

Opportunity

The client has been reducing costs through its in-house procurement team but did not have the resources for a ‘drains-up’ review. Also, so long as reductions were achieved, the in-house team were happy to take what they could; but they had not sought to benchmark the offer within their market.

The in-house team also lacked the resource bandwidth to run an in-depth programme of cost reductions. They already had a broad range of responsibilities, which included supporting new sales — which was seen as a greater priority.

Approach & Skills

The cost reduction programme designed and run by Cambridge MC included the following:

Designing and running an RFP on the whole installed base of connectivity. This was split regionally so that local best-in-class providers had the opportunity to bid for services (mitigating the dominance of pan-regional providers). Providers were invited to quote on their own services and also for services offered by other providers.

Analysing the RFP responses and checking the offer against the Cambridge MC benchmark cost database (built up from knowledge gained by The Carrier Club (part of the Cambridge MC family of companies) from its Procurement-as-a-Service activities and experience procuring services for previous clients).

Engaging with the suppliers to renegotiate the cost of services in line with their RFP responses and discussing the possible migration of services from providers who failed to respond or whose offers were lacking.

Negotiating market-leading terms, to mitigate issues such as early-termination liabilities and ensuring overall that the risk to the client was kept to a minimum.

The programme was managed through weekly (and eventually twice-weekly) meetings with the client. We created a common workspace for the client and Cambridge MC, as well as a tracking and reporting template that was designed to feed into the client’s management reporting cycle.

The Team

The team’s expertise and history with managing telecoms procurement, vendor management and telecoms inventory analytics ensured that the RFP was quickly broken down into easy packages. Knowledge sharing and input from The Carrier Club also gave the team access to a wealth of cost benchmarking gained from years of procuring services globally for The Carrier Club’s client base.

Years of experience running Carrier Relations and Procurement teams also helped in providing strategies, deal structures, and contractual clauses that ensured that the client achieved the best savings with minimum risk from penalties or other conditions that would erode their savings.

Outcomes & Results

1

Cambridge MC delivered $2.85m in annualised savings, 60% of which came directly from Cambridge MC’s negotiations, and the remainder led by the client’s team informed by Cambridge MC’s time and its analysis. In some cases, the savings achieved with providers were 19%+.

2

In a majority of the renewals, Cambridge MC was able to implement clauses that minimised the risk from penalties in the contracts. In two major negotiations, Cambridge MC even managed to negotiate future incentives for the client if they could meet agreed growth targets.

3

While some migrations were necessary, Cambridge MC managed to keep this to a minimum and although it limited the ability to make use of some highly aggressive pricing from the RFP, it allowed the client to maintain the design integrity of its solutions for its financial services clients.

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