Cost Diagnostics: Unlock Hidden Profitability in Your Business

In a competitive market, a clear understanding of your costs is paramount. Our Cost Diagnostics service goes beyond simple spend analysis, applying a commercially focused lens to identify and eliminate inefficiencies. We help you uncover hidden opportunities for profit improvement and deliver a clear roadmap for tangible, bottom-line results.

I required a partner that could provide cost effective augmented Procurement expertise and resource on demand. 7SS ticked all the boxes. What is also great about 7SS is I feel they really understand my sector, care about my business and deliver real outcomes. Their reputation as commercial and procurement experts is well deserved.

Principal, Value Creation

7 Step Solutions significant reputation in Private Equity is a testament to their commercial and procurement expertise, white glove service, working at pace and delivering tangible results consistently. It is easy to understand how these key qualities I have witnessed for many years have transferred in their services to multi-sector industries.

Director - Global Investment Firm

If you are looking for a partner that can integrate seamlessly into your organisation, reduce costs, improve business profits and Procurement performance, I would highly recommend 7 Step Solutions.

Chief Financial Officer for a £1bil private sector organisation

7 Step Solutions are my go-to partner for Procurement support. Whether a cost out project, M&A support or a strategic procurement transformation initiative, 7SS white glove service and commercial acumen has consistently delivered a high return on investment.

Partner - global investment firm focusing on acquiring and transforming companies across diverse industries worldwide

7 Step Solutions bring a real laser like focus and commercial aptitude, considering not just Procurement supply side activity like some advisories, but business wide efficiencies, savings and improvements along with first class change management.

Director - global investment firm overseeing £20b portfolio

7 Step Solutions have delivered a step change improvement in our Procurement culture and performance, aligning Procurement activity to business goals alongside rapid delivery of cost, process and technology improvements.

Chief Procurement Officer for a £600mil private sector organisation

7 Step Solutions have supported our business at pace to deliver rapid savings and sustained profit improvement. Having an expert, flexible and scalable partner for projects and peaks in demand has been invaluable to our success.

Operating Partner - leading alternative investment firm focused on Private Equity, Private Credit, and Real Estate

Their speed and agility were remarkable. They quickly integrated with our team and delivered a tangible, positive impact on our bottom line.

COO, Global Logistics Company

They truly understood our business and delivered a solution that was not only commercially robust but also perfectly aligned with our strategic objectives.

Head of Finance, European Private Equity Firm

7 Step Solutions helped us redesign our marketing procurement, which led to a 20% reduction in agency costs and a £1.8M annual saving.

Marketing Director, American Manufacturer

A Data-Driven Approach to Profit Improvement

Our Cost Diagnostics service is designed to be a rapid and effective way to identify high-impact savings opportunities. We start by conducting a detailed, top-down analysis of your expenditure, cross-referencing it with market data and our extensive experience to pinpoint areas of overspend and inefficiency. Our process is swift, conclusive, and provides the clarity you need to make commercially sound decisions.

What a Cost Diagnostics Project Delivers

Rapid Results
We deliver a clear diagnostic of your cost-saving potential within weeks, not months, providing the foundation for a quick-win strategy.
Quantifiable ROI
Our data-driven approach ensures that every identified saving is measurable and contributes directly to your bottom line, with an average 10:1 commercial and operational return on investment.
Comprehensive Insights
We look at more than just procurement. Our analysis provides a holistic view of your cost drivers, including areas of high-cost leakage and working-in-silo inefficiencies.
Strategic Roadmap
You receive a clear, prioritised roadmap of opportunities, ranked by value and ease of implementation, allowing you to focus on the initiatives that will have the most significant impact.

Our Cost Diagnostics Services

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Initial Diagnostic

A rapid, top-down assessment to identify major areas of opportunity.
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Detailed Spend Analysis

We use rigorous analytics and benchmarking to delve into your spend, ensuring every recommendation is guided by data.
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Cost Reduction Programmes

We can support the implementation of targeted initiatives to realise the identified savings, from single categories to multi-year, business-wide programmes.

Our proven process

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Data Collection & Analysis
We begin by examining all relevant spend and contract data to build a clear baseline of your current situation.
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Interview
We engage with key business buyers and stakeholders to understand your buying processes and requirements, filling in the crucial details that data alone cannot provide.
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Baseline & Opportunity Development

We benchmark your current state against industry best practice to identify tangible opportunities for savings and value creation.

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Validation & Recommendation
We validate our findings with your team and present a clear, prioritised delivery roadmap based on value versus ease of implementation.

Case Studies

Analysed $440m in global spend to identify procurement value opportunities

Business Challenge

Operating 427 restaurants across four Nordic countries under separate agreements led to inefficiencies and limited scalability. 7SS was engaged to unify operations through a supply chain optimisation workstream within a wider business transformation.

Solution

7SS took a structured, data-led approach to define the as-is state and identify improvement opportunities. Spend, contracts, and policies were analysed to establish a clear baseline, then validated through interviews with key buyers to understand real-world processes and capability. The findings were benchmarked against best practice to develop sourcing strategies by category, and a delivery roadmap was created to prioritise actions by ease and benefit — forming the foundation for implementation.

Outcomes

The project delivered results in two phases. A 12-week diagnostic identified cost-saving and cash-flow opportunities, producing 25 prioritised initiatives. Over the next 18 months, 7SS implemented a new procurement and supply chain model, realising €33m in benefits across key categories and embedding sustainable practices for long-term impact.

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£117M Global Spend: An 8-week assessment identified key P&L value creation opportunities delivering, clear, significant, measurable profitability.

Business Challenge

This global software provider, with over £330 million in turnover, faced critical fragmentation after being acquired by private equity and executing a swift M&A strategy. Third-party spend became highly complex, and the small, tactical procurement team struggled to manage the scattered direct and indirect costs. 7 Step Solutions was engaged to diagnose this fragmented spend across critical areas like IT, HR, and Marketing to identify and unlock immediate optimisation opportunities.

Solution

7 Step Solutions was engaged by the private equity owners to apply its full four-phase diagnostic process—from initial data collection and stakeholder interviews to developing the strategic baseline and validating the delivery roadmap—ensuring the business could unlock significant, measurable value across its fragmented spend profile.

Outcomes

This extensive two-year programme began with an 8-week supply chain diagnostic to identify key cost and cash-flow opportunities across the operation. Over the subsequent 18 months, 7 Step Solutions implemented a full cost-out programme, continuing the transformation across IT, HR, Marketing, Insurance, and Property, resulting in audited annualised savings equal to 4% of the addressable spend.

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£22M Spend: A rapid assessment across 750 veterinary practices identified key value creation opportunities and a clear roadmap.

Business Challenge

Our client is a leading veterinary group that provides care for companion animals, equine, and farm animals across the UK and Europe. Founded in 2015, the group has rapidly grown to encompass over 750 veterinary practices, along with several laboratories, farms, and training facilities.

Solution

7 Step Solutions was hired to provide an aggressive diagnostic that was both data-driven and commercially grounded. The solution involved a systematic four-phase process: rigorous Data Collection and Analysis across three key categories; targeted Stakeholder Engagement to develop the baseline; Opportunity Identification by benchmarking against best practice; and finally, Market Engagement to leverage the client’s scale for optimal pricing and commercial terms.

Outcomes

The opportunity assessment identified potential savings of between 6-9% (£1.3m-£1.9m) of the £22m spend associated with the three spend categories.

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Our experts designed and implemented compliant policies to cut procurement carbon emissions for a global public sector research facility.

Business Challenge

Client expressed their vision of becoming a role model as an environmentally aware global research laboratory.

Solution

This global public sector research facility sought to become a world leader in environmental responsibility, but faced a massive challenge: 64% of their 450,000 tonnes of annual CO2 emissions were tied directly to the £438 million of goods and services purchased from their supply chain. With their 70-strong procurement team focused solely on standard sourcing and compliance, they urgently required expert, external support. The goal was to fully embed a responsible environmental procurement policy into their organisation and supply chain, all while strictly adhering to global public sector purchasing regulations and operational controls.

Outcomes

Successful creation and embedding of a new global Environmentally Responsibly Procurement Policy and Processes aimed at sustainably reducing scope 3 emissions while maintaining fair and equitable public sector controls.

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Why partner with 7 Step Solutions?

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Deep Commercial Expertise
Our team of experts has decades of experience managing and optimising spend, with a mindset honed in the demanding world of private equity.
Global Reach, Boutique Focus
With offices in London, Boston, and Zurich, we offer international capabilities combined with a personal, relationship-driven service.
Guaranteed ROI
We are so confident in our ability to deliver results that we provide minimum ROI guarantees, ensuring you see a clear return on your investment.

FAQs

This service is ideal for businesses facing pressure on their profit and loss statement, or those undergoing a structural or transformational change that requires a quick and effective cost review.
We deliver a comprehensive report, including a prioritised roadmap of savings opportunities, within weeks.
Our approach is commercially focused. We don't just identify savings; we provide a clear business case and implementation roadmap, ensuring the savings are achievable and contribute to your overall profitability.
This can be a one-off project, but it often serves as the foundation for a long-term partnership where we support the implementation of the identified initiatives.

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