St Neot’s is a co-educational day and weekly boarding school, set in rural surroundings in the North East corner of Hampshire, bordering Surrey and Berkshire. We welcome children between the ages of 3 months and 13 years.
The Background
New bursar Andrew Brown was appointed in December 2012 and joined the school at a time of significant change. Like any good bursar, Andy wanted to get a handle on as many spend areas as he could in the shortest possible time. Realising his time was severely limited, due to his need to focus on areas of more urgent or strategic nature, Andy appointed Minerva to assist. Having already reviewed oil, LPG, electricity, waste management and stationery (and finding substantial annual savings) Minerva was tasked with evaluating the telephone spend which encompassed call and line charges plus mobile tariffs.
The Results
Andy now has a clear understanding of all of the telephony spend including what lines the school is paying for and confirmation of contract renewal dates. There has also been successful elimination of unnecessary spend. The project also enabled a strategic review across the entire school resulting in the removal of mobile devices for some and provision for others where there was a clear need.
With respect to like-for-like annual savings, Minerva assisted the school in reducing their calls and line rental charges by an impressive 35%. Mobile contracts were also renegotiated to offer the annual school savings of just over 71%.
Customer Feedback
Minerva Procurement have been working with St Neot’s Prep School over the past year, during which time their dynamic and professional approach has been harnessed to deliver impressive cost savings over a wide range of procurement areas. The Minerva team demonstrate an in depth understanding of the challenges facing schools, which enables a targeted approach to problem solving. Their advice is always thoroughly researched and clearly presented, thus facilitating informed decision making. I am eternally grateful for their “can do” good humoured attitude.
Andrew Brown, Bursar, St Neot’s Preparatory School December 2013
