Time to look at Postal Estate?

“It’s estimated that businesses across the UK are losing in excess of £500m  in savings every year by inefficient use of their postal estate, or by not exploiting the options available in the market”, says Sweeney who has worked in the postal industry for more than 20 years.

“The need for education on what opening up the market actually means is of paramount importance. I recently met with one of the UK’s biggest spenders on postal services. He told me that he was amazed at the large number of businesses who have not explored the opportunities or have simply implemented the wrong solutions for their business model.

“We’re talking here about a situation where £8bn a year is being spent on post in the UK alone, so it’s clear that postal costs remain a huge expense for many businesses.”

Sweeney suggests  that cost consultants with no experience of the postal market are providing ready made solutions for clients which quite simply don’t work.

“Many firms move to Downstream Access - where mail, collected and distributed by a new provider such as TNT, UK Mail or DHL is handed over to Royal Mail for final delivery – because they believe it’s the best option for their company.  But anyone who truly understands the sector will know that this is only one of several solutions available.”

Gary Sweeney left Royal Mail in 2003 after more than 20 years in the business, latterly as a director, and set up a company called Two 006 in response to deregulation of the market.

 The Glasgow-based firm, which has now re-launched as Altus, is the UK’s leading independent postal estate management company providing analysis of an organisation's postal systems and requirements which identifies the opportunities to reduce mailing and delivery costs and improve efficiencies.

Case history
Sage is a leader in the supply of business management software and services. Due to explosive growth through the rapid expansion of products and services available  significant spending on postal services was incurred.

Sage realised that their spending on postal services was diverse and they wanted an independent view to assess the true cost of their fragmented Postal Estate. They also wanted to understand how they could reduce costs across their infrastructure and be confident that there would be full stakeholder involvement and approval.

Solution
Altus analysed data across Sage’s postal infrastructure and worked closely with the finance and procurement teams. The actual spend across Sage’s diverse Postal Estate was quickly established. Through market testing, Altus then considered a number of postal providers and recommended the best-fit mailing solution which allowed for present needs as well as future requirements and expansion plans.

Benefits
Sage now benefits from a powerful and versatile mailing strategy that is reliable and easy to use. The client has been delighted with the solution Altus introduced and significant recurring annual cost reductions have been evident since the solution was implemented.

Further savings in customer communications are  achieved by moving a proportion of Sage business away from established and expensive physical distribution.

Key data:
    *  Improved management control
    * Centralisation of Postal Estate expenditure
    * Cost savings
    * Simplification of use
    * Speed of implementation
    * Minimum internal resource requirement
    * Clearer management reporting

With clients clients which include HBOS, Sage UK and Vertex, Altus has rebranded in preparation for a major expansion in the coming year into its target markets which include financial services, utilities and the public sector.

Source:http:// www.altuspost.com