Case Study: How Cambridge Management Consulting Helped Liberty Global with a Centralised Procurement Model
How we realised huge savings in annual costs
Liberty Global had grown rapidly, to the point where business in Europe, at the start of 2016, comprised some 12+ operating companies.
Those businesses, linked with a significant backbone network across Europe, provided the group with a significant opportunity to re-structure its telecoms procurement, leveraging the group spend.
The Challenge
From early 2016, supporting Cartesian who held a portfolio of projects with the Liberty Global group in Europe, the team took the lead in helping the client manage a suite of identified savings initiatives and develop a strategy for leveraging spend to achieve greater savings.
Our Role
- Acted as Programme Director for the existing savings programs, helping the teams refine their approach and ensuring that lessons learned in one group of companies was shared and replicated in the other companies
- Reviewed and renegotiated existing agreement to improve the commercial terms
- Provided guidance on centralising telecoms procurement across the group, based on the logic of a ‘plan globally, act locally where needed’ philosophy
- Led the development of a procured telecoms ‘product tree’ as part of the group’s deployment of Ariba software to assist with procurement, supply chain management and reporting business-intelligence information
- Worked with the client finance team on mapping spend to the correct GL codes, so the end reporting was accurate and useful from both a finance and business intelligence perspective
- Trialled the new centralised procurement model by drafting and managing the RFP process for a new cloud-based Wholesale Voice Billing platform to be deployed across the group in Europe. This took a high degree of stakeholder management, as many of the group companies were reluctant to consider moving from their current, familiar supplier
Knowledge & Skills
- Detailed Program Management and reporting capabilities.
- Our knowledge of procurement models relevant to large pan-European telecoms organisations.
- Practical procurement skills including understanding market rates, contract review and analysis, negotiations and the drafting for approval of final agreements.
- Strong analytical and financial skills relevant to large and complex business structures.
- The ability to define, draft and manage end-to-end Procurement RFP processes across large and conglomerate businesses.
- Our knowledge of a wide range of telecoms products including voice, data and infrastructure.
Outcomes & Results
1. Huge savings
The realisation of multi-million savings across the programme-managed projects.
2. Deployment of Ariba
The relevant deployment of Ariba as a procurement tool for telecoms services.
3. Road map
A road map for the implementation of a new, cloud-based, Wholesale Voice Billing platform that was scaleable and flexible with respect to the need for future acquisitions and divestitures.
4. Centralised leverage and local procurement
A model that provided the best of centralised leverage and local procurement for telecoms.
5. Complete handover
A complete handover of the work to the operational teams tasked with carrying it forward in the day-to-day life of the business.
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We were approached by one of the fastest growing data centre providers in Europe. With over 20 data centres throughout the continent, they are consistently meeting the need for scalable, high-performance infrastructure. Despite this, a key data centre in Scandinavia had become reliant on a single, non-redundant 1 Gbps internet service from a local provider, posing significant risks to operational continuity. To enhance the reliability of its network and resolve these risks, our client needed to establish additional connectivity paths to ensure the redundancy of its infrastructure. The Ask Cambridge Management Consulting was engaged to address these connectivity challenges by identifying and evaluating potential vendors and infrastructure options to create second and third connectivity paths. This involved exploring various types of connectivity, including internet access, point-to-point capacity, wavelengths, and dark fibre. Additionally, Cambridge MC was asked to provide recommendations for building a local fibre network around the data centre to control and maintain diverse paths. This would allow the data centre to connect directly to nearby points of presence (PoPs) and reduce dependency on external providers, thereby enhancing network resilience and operational control. The goal of this project was to ensure that the Nordic data centre could maintain continuous operations even in the event of a failure in the primary connection. Approach & Skills Cambridge MC approached the project with a focus on ensuring operational continuity and resilience for the data centre. By identifying multiple connectivity paths, we aimed to mitigate the risk of network failures and ensure that the data centre could maintain continuous operations even in the event of a failure in the primary connection. This approach allowed Cambridge MC to provide a comprehensive solution to address both immediate and long-term connectivity needs. We employed a combination of Agile and Waterfall methodologies to manage the project. The initial investigative phase allowed a Waterfall approach, in which our team conducted thorough research and analysis to identify potential vendors and connectivity options. This phase involved detailed interviews with various telecommunications providers and an assessment of publicly available information. Once the initial analysis was complete, the workflow transitioned to an Agile approach for the implementation phase. This allowed Cambridge MC to adapt to new information and feedback from stakeholders, ensuring that the final solution was both flexible and robust. Challenges Lack of information: One of the primary obstacles we faced was the lack of detailed network maps and information from some of the potential vendors. To overcome this, the team conducted extensive interviews with contacts at these companies and leveraged its existing network of industry contacts to gather as much information as possible. Remote location: Another challenge was the remote location of the data centre, which limited the availability of local infrastructure and required us to explore creative solutions for connectivity. Cambridge MC addressed this by proposing the construction of a local fibre network around the data centre, which would allow for greater control and flexibility in connecting to nearby PoPs. Fragmented factors: Additionally, coordinating with multiple vendors and ensuring that their services could be integrated seamlessly posed a logistical challenge. We mitigated this by recommending a phased approach to implementation, starting with the most critical connectivity paths and gradually expanding to include additional options. 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Scope for Future Work: Cambridge MC identified several future developments with the potential to further enhance international connectivity and provide additional redundancy for the data centre. We also proposed further assistance, including a site visit for a more in-depth analysis of options, issuing RFI/RFP to vendors for capacity and fibre, and conducting similar connectivity studies for other candidate sites in the region.
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