Typical examples of SmartBuyer Hourlies

Use the examples below as guidance for creating your own Hourly support offerings

Hourly consultation topics could include:

The relative strengths and weaknesses of application development suppliers in the market
The kinds of rates you should be paying
The different supplier management models available in this space and how to leverage value for money
What a good services framework agreement looks like

Longer term activities could include:

Review your existing contracts and operational service documents (eg frameworks, Statements of Work)
Help you build a strong set of performance metrics to manage the supplier
More detailed benchmark of your rates
Review and build RFP documentation
Provide options for diverse and boutique suppliers as an alternative global model

Experience & Benefits delivered:

10 years+ working in an IT services environment
ITIL qualified
Management of IT services categories
Exposure to a number of suppliers including: TCS, Cognizant, IBM, EPAM, CGI, Coforge, Atos
Generated savings of £100k’s in negotiations throughout career at multiple FTSE organisations

Hourly consultation topics could include:

Finding the most suitable hotel providers for your organisation
How to get the most out of the major hotel groups both locally and internationally
How booking tools are vital
Guidance on your travel management policy
The best ways to save money in this category
Diversity in your supply chain - The benefits of boutique players

Longer term activities could include:

Guide and steer on your hotel RFP
Check the rates you’re being offered are fair and reasonable
Review your Travel Policy
Review the configuration of your booking tools - Are you getting the most out of it to help reduce risk to your company and drive savings

Experience & Benefits delivered:

Global Travel Category management at over 8 organisations ranging from mid sized (200 staff) to major plcs (100,000+ staff)
Ran multiple Hotel RFPs
Saved companies hundreds of thousands
Experience of suppliers across all geographies globally, e.g. including IHG, MAR, HLT, HST, Park Hotels

Hourly consultation topics could include:

What the right Microsoft products would be suitable for your business, assessing the various contractual packages available
Typical pricing
How to work with your organisation to ensure you’re not unnecessarily over spending
Negotiation strategy and the levers to pull with your sales counterparts
What to put into the contract to minimise your risk exposure
Understanding how the market has changed over the past few years and the expected direction of travel

Longer term activities could include:

Behind the scenes guidance in any Microsoft negotiation (eg one hour a week to guide and steer you)
Proposal review with guidance on what you should be pushing back on or asking for
Price benchmarking
Working with your IT stakeholders to help reduce your licensing exposure (avoiding any unexpected and unnecessary costs)

Experience & Benefits delivered:

Several years as Microsoft lead at a major global Value Add Reseller covering companies of all sizes
Software Category lead at two FTSE100s
Spend reduction circa £50k to £500k per annum for several previous employers

Hourly consultation topics could include:

Longer term activities could include:

Guide, mentor and support Procurement teams and leaders to help rapidly enhance their function
Build a successful plan to improve and transform the Procurement function, identify the key areas to prioritise and the likely pitfalls to address (based on personal experience)

Experience & Benefits delivered:

Led the Procurement transformation of a multi billion global organisation with over 100,000 employees
Managed multiple Procurement teams and projects spanning policy, process and technology development
Interim CPO role held across many companies