Technology Innovator Awards 2017

20 Corporate Vision / Technology Innovator Awards 2017 , StrategicManagement Partners (SMP) is an independent consultancy based in Sussex. We profile the firm to find out more about the range of services it provides. Most Innovative Reduced-Cost Consultancy - South England Founded by Managing Director Clive Bonny in 1990, SMP has delivered cost- effective consulting support across international markets, delivering bottom line benefits for client teams from the MD to the receptionist. Building on advisory experience with Innovation and Enterprise Agencies Clive has produced many national award winning projects. His business research and unique training programmes on best practice management have been published by The Economist and international publishers. Strategic Management Partners clients benefit from reduced-cost consultancy through access to grant aid support funds and low operational overheads. The firm provide strategic planning advice, training, coaching and support to large and small organisations across a wide range of sectors for sustainable improvements to client activities, outputs and impacts. Within the consultancy market, the two largest costs in traditional firms are staff payrolls and office facilities. London rented office space is around £100 per square foot. These costs have been increasing over 10% pa. Hong Kong has reached $250 per square foot and New York $150. It means that for even a small company of 5 persons city rent of £25000-£50,000 pa needs to be charged back to clients. 50 staff can cost up to £500,000 pa in office rental. SMP staff all work from home-based offices with quality office equipment, saving 90% in office rental costs. In addition, traditional consulting firm salaries in the city average £65,000 pa and actual chargeable time can be as low as 50% which effectively doubles the payroll costs charged to clients. SMP’s business model is to employ qualified associates paying only for their time spent on client projects. This reduces client project staffing costs by over 50%. These savings give SMP a significant power to offer lower cost consulting with no negative impact on margins and profitability. To access to the best pools of talent SMP has membership of the main consulting professional bodies. These include the Chartered Institutes of Management, Computing, Consulting, Personnel and Development. Trade body memberships include Chambers of Commerce, Manufacturers, Arts, Small Businesses, Innovation Centres and Business Angels Association. This allows Clive to pick and choose the right associates for the right job who are professionally qualified, work to the highest quality standards and experienced in running their own businesses. Ensuring delivery excellence for clients, SMP’s internal and external operations have been independently audited by the Organisation of Responsible Businesses since 2012. These nationally recognised Responsible Business Standards are based on best practice support for employees, customers, suppliers, the community, the environment, ethics and business continuity. SMP’s operations are verified at Gold Standard and the auditor reports are shown on SMP’s website and Clive’s LinkedIn profile. Clive is also cleared to government Baseline Personnel Security Standards providing a Right to Work on corporate confidential projects and across the public sector in Health, Education and Police services. SMP provides BPSS clearance for clients and independent contractors Right to Work for high security projects, reducing time and costs for recruiters of personnel who require this higher security clearance. Overall, a significant cost- reduction in the business model combined with innovative strategic planning and delivery processes produce successful outcomes. Verified by external specialists in responsible business standards, these audit reports are accessible to clients online. These show detailed evidence that all aspects of SMP’s operations function at a high quality level. Effective cost-management has created savings which are passed directly to clients. The use of grant funding and reductions in unnecessary overheads has created a significant return on client investments for long term sustainability. In conclusion, Clive Bonny comments “We have always applied a unique approach in removing unnecessary costs from our business overheads whilst at the same time acquiring funds to subsidise our work for clients in all sectors. We have removed the main costs in the planning and delivery of consulting support and can show all our clients how these costs have been significantly reduced whilst improving the quality of our services. Buyers of consultancy, coaching and advisory work can save significant costs without compromising quality if they check their suppliers in these areas. I recommend buyers review their criteria guidance on cost-effective use of quality consulting by using the 20 point check-list shown Contact Email: [email protected] Address: Windmill Downs, 58 Nevill Road, Rottingdean East Sussex, BN2 7HG, UK Phone: UK 01273 308 865 Website: consult-smp.com