Peale Davies
Focused, best practices firms often have sufficient resources and expertise to optimally manage cost and operate at top efficiency without assistance. We provide leverage to the bottom 95% of firms, those without sufficient capability, time or financial resources to achieve top-tier spend management performance on their own. We supplement your efforts and help you find opportunities for savings, prioritize initiatives, develop targeted savings strategies and tactics, negotiate new or modified relationships and service levels and achieve and sustain rapid bottom line results. We implement the following quick-hit services as part of your overall cost-down efforts:
Cost reduction efforts often fall short because of misalignments in internal service delivery. Core G & A providers such as accounting, legal, HR, IT, planning and purchasing and the business units they serve are frequently in conflict, leading to frustration, inefficiency and higher costs. A strong correlation exists between receptivity to cost control measures and the presence of key business alignment mechanisms, including the following:
- Service Level Agreements
- Delivery Enforcement and Chargebacks
- Shared Service Centers and Consolidation of Service Operations
- Performance-based Compensation linked to Key Performance Indicators
- Benchmarking of performance against outside companies and providers
- Access to External Service Provider Alternatives
- Look for the Easy Savings First
- Attack SOX and Sox-like Compliance Costs
- Cut IT Costs by Standardizing Technology
- Leverage Outsourcing, Shared Services and Offshoring
- Consolidate Vendors and
- Optimize Inventory Size and Velocity
Telecommunications Spend Reduction
Reducing, managing, and controlling communications expenses is a major corporate problem and provides an excellent opportunity for savings. Firms routinely pay for unused lines and data pipes, billings which are incorrect and for unnecessary and/or excessive communications services. Approval processes are complicated by telecom invoicing which ties imperfectly to purchase order and general ledger reporting, and for many firms contract management and asset tracking in this arena is sub-par.
Many firms ignore the problem leaving it to delivery-focused IT or Communications departments others use services-based firms to perform periodic audits of telephone, VOIP, network wireless and related expenses. These are not optimal approaches, are disruptive and fail to catch errors and inefficiencies in real time.
We recommend a Telecommunications Expense Management ("TEM") best-practices model and implement innovative, technology-based solutions built into daily processing. We provide in-house, hosted and fully-outsourced solutions with modules addressing key corporate cost-down needs and providing detailed and easy to implement and use communications expense and asset tracking.
Representative Savings Target: 50% of communications spend rate within 6 months of implementation.
Healthcare Cost Audit and Control
Healthcare expenses under self-insured plans are difficult to control and even more difficult to monitor. Third party administrators and brokers are generally not incented to control spends and internal protection is often weak. Billing is very detailed and very time-consuming to monitor and key data and opportunities to control costs are unavailable to internal resources. We recommend sophisticated and independent third party audit and advisory services designed to:
- Determine compliance with both contract terms and plan documents
- Assess financial accuracy of paid claims and administrative processes, including error and fraud detection
- Evaluate accuracy of payments and identify overpayments, duplicates and other errors
- Identify control weaknesses, their causes and suggest process enhancement/cost savings prospects
- Assess provider network penetration, utilization and discounts
- Review Customer's role regarding administration and offer recommendations
- Identify, validate and recover overpayments
In addition these services provide advanced healthcare business intelligence on 100% of the healthcare, pharma, dental and related spend and support more accurate month-end and quarterly closes, forecasting and required internal control initiatives.
Target Savings: 10% of healthcare spend
Representative Clients: Ford Motor Company, Private mid market IT Outsourcer, Raytheon
Procure to Pay Automation
Procure to pay software and related scanning and document management solutions provide mature, reliable control over purchasing, invoicing and payment and provide excellent bottom-line savings opportunities
- Gain control and visibility of spend,
- Identify opportunities to hold suppliers to contract terms
- Lowerback-office procurement and payables processing costs by up to 50%,
- Avoid duplicate and erroneous payments, focus spending and
- Reduce time spent answering unnecessary questions from suppliers and improve service,
- Deliver substantial savings in procurement costs while increasing the efficiency of the entire procurement through payment process.
Modular low-cost solutions can be latched-on to existing ERP systems including:
- contract management,
- approval workflow,
- e-invoicing,
- po/invoice/receiver or ERS matching,
- supplier self-service portals,
- dynamic error avoidance, spend reduction, reporting and related tools
Workers' Compensation Case Management
Focused, aggressive and seasoned assistance can drive down workers' compensation premiums and drive up return to work statistics. Aligning with a national provider of treatment clinics to address workplace injuries, implement early intervention and provide close, positive and proactive post-care monitoring is a workers' comp "best practice".
IT Spend Assessments
We provide end to end assessments of IT spend with a view to aligning spend with key business drivers and objectives. Reviews of technologies, assets and service levels are provided and spend is benchmarked against comparables.
Full and partial outsourcing of processing, programming and assets are reviewed and assistance provided in building business cases for and implementing efficiency-enhancing IT initiatives.
In addition services may include equipment monitoring and asset management as tracking IT assets promotes efficient deployment, allows remote monitoring of status and usage, eases asset tracking and depreciation for accounting purposes.
Technology Credits and Related Tax
Incentives
Uncovers federal tax credits for technology research and development investments often overlooked in tax reporting. Focused review of potential credits and assistance in preparing returns for credits.
Legal Cost and Litigation Risk Management
Comprehensive review of external and internal legal spend, recovery of billings in excess of agreed levels, vendor consolidation and management recommendations, benchmarking and risk/cost/benefit analysis of pending litigation.
Peale Davies & Co. Inc.
111 John Street, Suite 1510
New York, New York 10038
Phone: 212-233-4594 (X15)
Fax: 928-833-0140
E-mail: looneys@pealedavies.com