Questions we are asked
How does the fee work?
Before any work begins we agree a baseline for the categories in scope. Then we run the analysis and renegotiate your supplier terms alongside your team. Our fee is a share of the savings your finance team verifies against that baseline, once the new terms are signed and in effect. The share is a single digit to low double digit percentage, it falls as the spend in scope rises, and we put it in writing before we start. If no savings are verified, you owe us nothing.
How is the baseline set?
From your data, not our estimates. We take the prices and volumes you actually paid over an agreed reference period, normally the last twelve months, then adjust for known changes: volume shifts, index clauses, changes of scope, currency movement. Your finance team signs the baseline in writing before work starts. If we cannot agree a baseline for a category, that category stays out of scope.
What counts as a saving, and who decides?
A saving counts when there is a signed agreement or an amended contract at the new terms, and the effect can be traced in your invoices or purchase ledger. Cost avoidance, forecast savings and one off rebates are handled separately. They count only if you agree in writing that they should. Your finance team makes the final call on the figure.
How do we know the saving is you and not the market?
Where a price is index linked or driven by a traded commodity, the baseline moves with the published index, and we are paid only on the improvement against it. Categories and negotiations already under way when we start are listed and carved out when the baseline is signed off. If your own team delivers a saving on a category in scope without us, it comes out on your written confirmation.
When do you invoice?
Quarterly in arrears, against savings that have already shown up in your ledger and been confirmed by your finance team. We do not invoice on projected or annualised savings, and we do not invoice on signature.
What happens if the savings do not appear?
Then there is no fee. That is the point of the model, and it is why we are careful about which engagements we take on. If the first review shows there is not enough here to work with, we say so at that stage instead of starting something that cannot pay for itself.
What share do you take, and over what period?
The share is a single digit to low double digit percentage of verified savings, and it falls as the spend in scope rises. Both the share and the measurement period are fixed in the engagement letter before work begins. The measurement period runs for no more than twelve months from the date each new agreement takes effect. It does not run for the life of the contract.
What does it cost if we stop?
Nothing, if you stop before any savings have been verified. If you stop after new terms are signed and in effect, the fee is still due on those agreements alone, invoiced quarterly in arrears against savings you have actually realised, and for no more than twelve months from the date each agreement took effect. Categories where no new terms were signed accrue nothing. No notice period, no minimum term, no exit charge.
Who owns the supplier relationships?
You do, at every stage. We prepare the analysis, the negotiating strategy and the commercial case, and we sit with your team through the discussions. You lead, you decide, you sign. We sign nothing on your behalf, and we take no commission, rebate or payment of any kind from any supplier.
What data do you need, and how much of our team's time?
For the review: twelve months of accounts payable or purchase order data, your contract register, and the current agreements for the categories in scope. Supplier names can be masked. Most organisations can export all of that in a day. Once the engagement is running we ask for one named contact per category, roughly two hours of their week, and decision time from whoever signs contracts.
How do you handle confidentiality, and where is our data held?
We sign your non-disclosure agreement, or ours if you prefer, before you send us any spend data. Working copies sit with the named providers listed in our privacy notice, and we return or delete them when the engagement ends. If you would rather your data did not leave your own systems, we can work inside them. Supplier pricing is never shared with another client and never used as a benchmark. Where your data contains personal data, we act as your processor under a written data processing agreement.
Do you work for our competitors?
If we are working on the same category for another organisation in your sector, we tell you before we start, and we will not do it without your agreement. Your prices are never used as a benchmark for another client, named or unnamed, and no analysis crosses between engagements.
Whose contract do we sign, and are you insured?
We have a standard engagement letter, and we are happy to work on your paper if your legal team prefers that. Either way, the baseline definition, the carve outs, the measurement period and the fee basis are agreed before any work starts. We will share our insurance position on request.
Who does the work, and what happens if you are unavailable?
The people who run your engagement are the people you meet, with specialist support brought in by category. Every specialist signs the same confidentiality terms, is named to you before they get access, and can be refused by you. We scope engagements in stages, so a pause between stages strands nothing, and the cover arrangement takes over if someone is unavailable mid stage.
Do we have to change suppliers?
Usually not. Most of what we find comes from resetting agreements you already hold, correcting terms that have drifted, and pulling together spend that is split across several suppliers in the same category. Where a change is the right answer we will make the case for it. The decision stays with you.
What if a supplier refuses to deal with an adviser?
It happens, particularly with sole distributors. We brief your team, give them the analysis and the position to hold, and stay out of the room. What moves the price is the analysis, not our presence.
Will this reduce quality or service levels?
It should not, and we do not count a saving that comes from cutting agreed scope or specification. We work on total cost, which takes in service levels, payment terms, delivery, warranty and the cost of poor quality. If a lower price is only available at the cost of the service you need, we will not recommend it.
How quickly do results come through?
The first review normally takes two to four weeks from the point your data is available. Reset terms usually follow over the next two to four months, depending on renewal dates and how many suppliers are involved. Savings count only once the new terms take effect.
Does this reduce local employment?
Our work is on what you pay third parties, not on your headcount. We do not recommend savings that come from cutting agreed scope or service levels, and local supplier development commitments are constraints we work within, not costs we take out.
Do you work outside Dubai?
Yes. We work with organisations across the Emirates. Our base is Dubai Silicon Oasis and we come to you.
This is how we normally work. The engagement letter governs each specific arrangement.