Financial Services Industry Results
An Organization Learns to Control Supplier Spend and
Vendor Relationships
Challenge
A statewide company with technology expenditures of over $40 million per year needed to better understand and organize its information technology contracts and vendor management operations. Stakeholders of contracting and IT purchasing were spread throughout the department and did not follow many standard procedures. Apart from its law department, the company had no centralized repository for signed agreements or processes and procedures enabling disparate departments to make sourcing decisions strategically, and little insight into cost drivers. The company was undergoing a major transaction processing system conversion, so IT personnel were distracted. Numerous outsource professional services vendors experienced little oversight. The company’s budget for consulting services was already stretched.
Solution
A principal of The RoMa Group worked with the client’s IT leaders to obtain buy-in for an approach that centralized a new departmental function within IT and developed foundational policies that were to support and drive a contract and vendor management infrastructure. RoMa Group consultants worked within a limited but plausible budget to create written procedures for every stage of the contracting process that were suited to the organization’s level of maturity. RoMa Group consultants then worked with stakeholders in IT and other departments to refine use the guidelines, including scheduling periodic update sessions with every vendor. The RoMa Group facilitated the use of tools, handbooks and instruction (including participation in negotiations) to enable client employees to effectively generate tailored RFIs and RFPs, negotiate deal points based on written requirements and establish metrics for vendor relationship management. In addition, the RoMa Group created a flexible contract database that included trigger dates for license renewals, and trained existing client staff on managing the information and the new “Vendor Management Office”, where copies of every agreement could be located.
Outcome
The client was able to achieve an immediate savings of $2 million by identifying and terminating redundant or obsolete agreements, and by gaining leverage for upcoming negotiations.
An IT Department Applies a Custom Methodology to Derive Savings from Annual Software/Hardware License Renewals
Challenge
An international company with annual license costs of $25 million needed to rapidly and consistently find savings and renew maintenance and license agreements in a transparent manner. The culture of the client company leaned against process-heavy solutions. Ownership of individual vendor relationships was unclear.
Solution
RoMa Group consultants put all annual hardware, software and professional services renewals on a calendar, aggregated by cost and function relative to company core business strategy. Consultants then interviewed functional and technical stakeholders to match the products and services required by each with the conditions of the pending renewal. If the needs no longer matched the contract, RoMa Group negotiation specialists met with vendor representatives to obtain changes to the terms and conditions of the contracts and license arrangements.
Outcome
Savings attained $3 million in a single quarter, meeting the program’s objectives. In addition, RoMa Group developed a “Renewal Analysis Tool” that included criteria for assessing every upcoming renewal as well as a worksheet and checklist enabling client stakeholders to consistently and systematically obtain savings from hardware and software licenses pending renewal.
A Financial Services/Brokerage Technology Company Communicates Their Message Effectively Using Direct Mail
Challenge
A growing technology trading firm/agency brokerage needed a cost-effective way to get their message out to prospective customers about the effectiveness of their institutional trading platform.
Solution
The RoMa Group developed a direct mail campaign that utilized both e-mail and regular mail. The campaign lasted 6 weeks; each week a short message was sent to prospects about the benefits of the client company’s trading platform. The communication methods alternated each week between email and regular mail in order to reach each type of prospect: those who respond to e-mail and those who respond to regular mail.
Outcome
The response rate of 4% far exceeded expectations; most importantly, a significant number of prospects became revenue generating customers in half the time of the normal sales cycle and at a significantly reduced acquisition cost.
Shareholder Reports Delivered Electronically and
Cost Effectively
Challenge
Shareholder Reports are required by industry regulators for all mutual fund products. Developing, printing and distributing them is extremely expensive.
Solution
The RoMa Group managed the development of an electronic delivery system to distribute shareholder reports utilizing the client company’s website. The solution was fairly complex, but appropriate: The RoMa Group had to develop a solution that would enable shareholders to easily receive and read their reports; the project team needed to determine the most cost-effective delivery platform, html or pdf. Finally, the team had to create an electronic delivery solution for reports that would work in parallel with the printed version.
Outcome
Electronic delivery of shareholder reports was forecasted to save 20% of production costs in two years.
A Business Case Provides a Credit Card Company With New Insight into Customer Incentives
Challenge
A large international corporate credit card issuing company was challenged to provide an incentive to employee card-holders to use their cards more frequently: Even though most companies provide corporate cards to their employees, individual card-holders may prefer to use their personal cards in order to receive frequent flier miles. The client company believed that a business travel site that combined reservations, destination information and online expense reports would provide a sufficient alternative to miles as an incentive to card-holders.
Solution
The RoMa Group addressed this challenge and evaluated the client company’s assumptions by conducting focus groups in three metropolitan locations with over 40 frequent business travelers. A prototype of the client-designed business travel website was shown to the participants to gather their reactions. The RoMa Group also investigated the online business travel environment to determine the demand and potential success for a business travel site that aggregated and managed travel expenses.
Outcome
Although the website was well received and considered somewhat useful by the focus group, the RoMa Group’s analysis determined that this web-based solution was not desirable enough to outweigh travel rewards. The client company incorporated these valuable findings into alternative business cases, and avoided unnecessary and costly expenditures.
The RoMa Group Enlists Merchant Partners for a
Debit Card Sponsor
Challenge
An innovative, mid-sized financial services company wished to leverage its customer relationships by partnering with merchants that would also be of interest to its customers, who were teen debit card users. The client wished to earn income from those partner relationships using a “pay per click” model based in its website.
Solution
With The RoMa Group’s input, the client decided to refine its website for teens so that they could easily find all their favorite merchants and make purchases online using their debit card. The RoMa Group recruited merchants to the client’s affiliate program.
Outcome
Acquired the partnership of 25 merchants, generating more than $2 million in revenue for the client within one year.
Mid-sized Commercial Bank Aligns Its Operations With Customer Service To Increase Client Satisfaction
Challenge
This successful lender in Silicon Valley had a set of strategic objectives that it wished to accomplish, beginning with improving the client’s experience based on feedback from customer surveys.
Solution
The RoMa Group created a detailed Client Experience touch point map from brand awareness through advocacy; identifying areas needing improvement. Then developed a blueprint for optimization of client Onboarding through improved communications, CRM utilization and role clarity
Outcome
By zeroing in on the key shortcoming and providing an actionable plan, we was able to generate a company-wide focus on client Onboarding and help implement key recommendations to improve client Onboarding. For example, steps were undertaken to streamline the process by reducing paper-work for both clients and employees.