£26M operating cost reduction across a merged retail property business.

The situation

A retail property office management company needed to reduce operating expenditure across two recently merged businesses with approximately 80 operational offices, ahead of a private equity discussion where operational performance would be a key value driver.

The business had not yet fully integrated the two entities at an operational level. Processes, systems, and management structures were fragmented, and there was no clear view of where cost was being lost or where improvement was viable.

The approach

Leadership of a full 12-week diagnostic was provided across all business functions and key customer journeys. Approximately 60 stakeholder and staff interviews were conducted, aligned with mapping of key end-to-end journeys - highlighting failure points across the operating model.

Data analysis was used to quantify and validate each opportunity. Clear governance, ownership, and accountability were established for the outcomes of the diagnostic and the post-engagement delivery.

The impact

• £6M/yr
  Annual Opex reduction from improved controls on the bad debt process.
• £13M/yr
  Annual Opex savings across Lead to Cash, Purchase to Pay, and Record to Report - including SAP and Salesforce systems.
• £7.5M
  Savings through creation of a Continuous Improvement framework supporting sustainable process efficiencies.
• Enhanced
  Risk and control management improved by moving to end-to-end business ownership rather than a divisional model.