5 Point Cost Saving Plan

When trialling Atlantic Global OnDemand we like to put in place a 5 point cost saving plan, this provides focus to the trial and also enables each organisation to measure thier potential return on investment. In this article we focus on some of the key cost savings available from each of Atlantic Global OnDemand's modules.

Timesheet Management Cost Savings

To really understand two of your businesses largest costs, your people and your projects, ensure you capture all of your time, cost and revenue and analyse it carefully. Analyse travel time to see if you can save money by using the most cost effective transport methods. In a 50 employee company, saving just £200 on one flight or rail ticket per employee per year saves £10,000 per annum, a 300%+ return on investment. Ensure all of your chargeable time is captured accurately, a 1% increase in time charged to clients in a £5million turnover business is £50,000 of additional revenue for no extra work. Make sure all of your time is billed to your clients quickly and efficiently. Reducing your billing cycle improves cash flow and reduces the need for any un-necessary credit. Most importantly, track and analyse all of your costs stringently. Reducing any unnecessary costs such as failing projects is essential.

Expense Management Cost Savings

A simple source of cost savings for most organisations is to make sure you capture all of your expenses quickly, accurately and efficiently and use this data to its best advantage. For example, many organisations do not reclaim VAT on mileage payments, for one employee alone who drives 10,000 miles pa and claims 40p per mile this is a potential cost saving of £165, or a 275% return on your investment in Atlantic Global OnDemand. Likewise, many organisation that have spreadsheet or paper-based expense management systems experience delays in submissions and in-accurate entries. By ensuring all of your chargeable expenses are captured quickly and efficiently and charged back to the client accurately with a full audit trail, an increase of just £10 in charged on expenses would result in a 200% Return on your investment in Atlantic Global OnDemand.

Resource Scheduling Cost Savings

Resource scheduling is commonly an untouched source of significant cost savings. Analyse your resource schedules carefully and use simple logic in your scheduling decisions. You may be able to save your business £’000s by cutting out unnecessary travel time and journeys alone. Continually review your resource schedules to analyse utilisation and chargeability. There is no point in having your most valuable assets sat on the bench or working on projects which do not deliver a return. Factor margin into your scheduling decisions, look to use the right resources on the right projects at the right time to maximise profitability.

Project Planning Cost Savings

Accurately planning your projects is critical to your business success. Forecasting future costs and revenues enables you to assess whether your projects are going to be profitable, deliver the required return on investment or in some circumstances, are even worth considering. By cutting pet projects or those with minimal returns on investment your organisation could be saving £’000s each year. Alternatively, you could be investing in better projects that provide cost savings or increase profitability. Tracking project progress is also key, ensuring your projects run on time and to budget ensures their success. It also provides an invaluable tool in planning new projects – by analysing previous successful projects you can better predict and plan your future projects.

Customer Relationship Management Cost Savings

During a recession, customer needs may change abruptly. Meaning, it is paramount that you are in continual communication with your customer base. Everybody knows the 80/20 rule, it being 80% easier to retain an existing customer. By having all of your customer data and interaction stored in a single repository you can better understand customer needs, be more responsive and increase loyalty, all leading to better customer satisfaction. If you can simply increase your existing customer base cross selling through improved relationships you can increase revenue significantly. For a company with 200 customers, selling just £1,000 worth of additional services to existing customers could result in a significant revenue boost. In addition, quicker and more efficient responses to customer needs equals increased success in attracting new customers and significant reductions in sales cycles.

Atlantic Global OnDemand is a fully hosted, highly secure, cost effective solution to time and expense management, client billing, project costing, project planning, resource scheduling and project portfolio management and customer relationship management.