Lee Freeman, a franchisee of Auditel, the cost-saving and cost-management consultancy, has made a six-figure cost saving for Sportingbet, the online gaming company.
Having looked at a number of aspects of the firm’s overheads, Freeman has saved to date £83,000 and an on-going 11 per cent of its fixed-line phone calls, and he is now making further savings in other areas.
Jim Wilkinson, group finance director of Sportingbet, which had a turnover of £1bn last year, said: “I have been genuinely surprised and impressed by the savings Lee has found as I really thought I was in a good position in terms of our existing contracts. What is more these savings have been delivered without any effort on the part of me or my team, or disruption to our core activities.
“Lee has just got on with the job and delivered impressive results in a very professional manner. Most importantly, his savings have made us realise that as an organisation we need to change our attitude towards costs management.
“First and foremost, we want to work with our staff to change their psychology and working practices in relationship to expenditure. Lee will continue to work closely with us to help us achieve this goal. He is already working on new projects to review our insurance, travel and broadband expenditure. I definitely see him as a member of our management team,” said Wilkinson.
Freeman initially reviewed Sportingbet’s expenditure in fixed and mobile phones, office supplies and IT consumables. A month later his brief was extended to cover stationery, where he negotiated a 33 per cent reduction that has brought savings of £23,000. Further savings have been an estimated £40,000 on mobile phones and £20,000 on international toll-free numbers.
Auditel has a UK network of 200 cost consultants serving thousands of business clients.