Cost reduction consultants sought

As they are focused on their core activity, many New Zealand businesses consistently overpay suppliers.

Detecting such over- payments is the work of Expense Reduction Analysts’ ( ERA), a company with more than 20 years experience in New Zealand, during which it has assisted 18,000 clients.

A LINK business broker, Tony Andrew, says the international business network is recruiting to expand its team of qualified licensed consultants.

ERA consultants know what to look for and they know supplier markets intimately. They benchmark and continuously update cost data across a diverse range of goods and services and identify the cost drivers, says Andrew.

ERA is about creating confidence that organisations are not leaving money on the table; if they are ERA shows them where it is, how much it is and how to avoid recurrence.

“ERA consistently deliver an additional 15 per cent to 40 per cent- plus savings in some of the most significant expense categories. These represent a significant boost to client cash flow and can be put back to work in the business,” he says.

The consultants are authorised to use the ERA brand and have access a comprehensive menu of resources and processes.

“A licensee operates his or her own business’, adds Andrew, “and remuneration is by way of fees derived from a share of cost savings achieved for the client. So the client is confident that the payments they make to their ERA consultant are far exceeded by the cost reduction benefit that has been accessed for them.

More than 700 ERA consultants operate internationally, 14 in New Zealand and the business has been represented here since 1994. riginate from a broad range of industry types. It is not necessary to have an accounting background — although it can be useful — and numeracy competence is essential.

ERA actively recruits industry specialists’ to add greater depth to the knowledge base and to support superior client outcomes.

ERA claims leadership in the best practices of procurement and they’ve discovered that best practices alone cannot deliver the most effective and lowest cost, supplier relationships, he says. “History suggests that it’s im- practical for internal procurement groups to have the requisite level of insight into hundreds of suppliers and their industries, across dozens of expense categories. However, it is practical for ERA, because it is their core business with hundreds of procurement specialists, each dedicated to gaining and maintaining insider knowledge in a specific supplier industry and for the suppliers within it.

“So ERA specialists understand the inner workings within each suppliers’ world and they have real time data on changes in the suppliers’ markets and behaviours. As a global company, ERA’s network of specialists spans five continents so delivers effective cost and spending benchmarking, access to the latest supplier innovations and to know what’s really possible.”

As the largest and most experienced consultancy of its kind, ERA also has valuable recognition and credibility within supplier markets.

LINK is conducting qualification interviews for ERA consultancy license opportunities. Andrew says suitable interested parties are introduced to Expense Reduction Analysts and those who qualify to purchase a license will then complete an intensive Foundation Training course.

The course is held at ERA’s training facility in Kent, England, over 10 business days and covers all aspects of the Expense Reduction Analysts process:

Identification and qualification of prospective clients Building working relationships Data collection and analysis Tender/ RFP process Negotiation skills Implementation Reporting and Monitoring The cost of an Expense Reduction Analysts license for New Zealand is $ 79,500, which includes training.

Tony Andrew