Make Your New Year’s Business Resolution to Uncover Your Hidden Cash Flow

CFOs and department heads are constantly looking at targets, savings and budgets. Leadership is thinking about where to find the dry powder if revenue goals do not materialise or if the budget is coming up short of stakeholder expectations for 2020. The good news is, there is a common area of a business that gets overlooked amongst medium to large corporations where simply maximising the best value from suppliers and developing processes for measurable cost savings could save over 20 per cent of total non-core annual expenditure, leading to additional profit straight to the bottom line.

Uncovering cash flow within your organisation can yield many important benefits and enable your business to stay ahead of the competition, allowing you to reinvest in strategic growth. Whether you are looking to reinvest in staff, technology, marketing or new products and services, the extra dirhams you save today can help you achieve your goals for 2020 and beyond. Make sure you get ahead of the competition in anticipation of as much as US$100 to US$150 billion in foreign direct investment across a range of industry sectors, including financial services, infrastructure, construction, real estate, hospitality, tourism and transportation, thanks to EXPO2020.

At ERA we focus on general, non-strategic costs such as telecommunications, energy, logistics, printing, utilities, office supplies, freight, courier and marketing expenses, mainly costs that are

not the focus of professional pricing negotiations. We check over 40 cost categories that most companies cannot possibly afford to employ in-house. We work on the basis of sharing the savings we find, implement and monitor. If we don’t find any savings, we don’t invoice it’s as simple as that.

All savings are realised, sustained and improved over time by assessing and then monitoring supplier performance in accordance with the supply contract.

Here’s our top recommendations for how to uncover your own hidden cost savings:

1. Negotiate with suppliers more effectively: you know your order history so use this to optimise pricing and delivery processes.
2. Avoid unaccounted for supplier inflation prices: clients often miss price increases that have been implemented. For this reason, some suppliers can get away with unfavorable fees and terms. Have your finance or legal team review your contracts.
3. Streamline supplier contracts: continuously confirm you are leveraging the software or service solutions you are paying for. Contact your provider to cancel any underutilised solutions.
4. Inquire about new industry innovations: latest solutions and services tend to offer better value for time and money as well as enabling you to stay ahead of the competition.
5. Monitor and maintain savings over time: You have to stay on it, set up at least a six-monthly review of existing agreements.
6. Ask about supplier rebates: Many organisations are unaware of the financial rebates available to them. The type of supplier determines the type of rebate, this most frequently comes in the form of either marketing support or free stock commonly at 20 per cent of annual billings. Make the most of your entitlement to reduce next years spend.

Staff in charge of procurement or purchasing have many responsibilities, as a result, core expenditures remain the focus. Rarely do they have the time, manpower or expertise to analyse the non-core expenses associated with the day-to-day operation of their business.

Despite the rush to the finish line for 2019, organisations should adequately prepare for what’s ahead in 2020. Asking the right questions, analysing data correctly and allowing ample implementation periods is critical to prolonged success. Keep the seemingly small details in mind to ensure your organisation stays ahead of the competition. The time is now to evaluate your opportunities to introduce a new revenue stream into your 2020 budget. 

About Expense Reduction Analysts

Expense Reduction Analysts is one of the largest specialist consultancies in cost management worldwide. Since 1992, it has supported companies of all sizes – from internationally established companies to not-for-profit organizations, public institutions and municipalities. ERA optimises business costs and finds innovative solutions to meet company’s needs. The extensive subject knowledge of its 750 global consultants enables businesses to generate substantial savings through enhanced negotiation, process improvement and product selection. ERAs collaborative approach provides full transparency, ensuring businesses retain control of all key aspects of the engagement. Having completed more than 20,000 projects globally ERA creates “Value through Insight” gained both locally and globally helping UAE businesses to succeed in a highly competitive environment.