Four Stages to Cost Optimisation

As businesses feel the pressure on their bottom line either in their reported figures or in their financial forecasts, there is a strong pressure to cut costs and cut them quickly. Striking the balance between cutting too far, being prepared for a 'bounce back' and avoiding risks - regulatory, reputational and financial - is tricky in uncertain times.

Of course there will be the usual suspects, hiring freeze, no replacements, furlough or fire contractors, squeeze suppliers, target discretionary spend, ban travel (if you haven't noticed its stopped already!), review your space requirements (I just noticed there is no-one in the office!) and the classic '10% cost reduction across the board' - the ultimate sledge hammer, which takes no consideration of teams that are already cost conscious.

Now could be the time to dust off your presentation from a couple of years ago that talked about 'cost optimisation'?

Real and sustainable savings come from increasing productivity and improving your internal value chain through process optimisation and leveraging technology innovation (robotics & AI).

This builds 'Cost Positioning' and opens up commonality via shared infrastructure, processing and control.

Mark Cox - Remote Consultant