Scope
Advisory - Cost Out Diagnostics
Industry
Veterinary
introduction
7SS undertook an opportunity assessment across £22m spend covering 750 veterinary practices to identify opportunities for value creation across specific key spend categories.
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.
As a growing organisation, the business faced the challenge of managing diverse operational needs across its network while maintaining cost efficiency.
With sustainability and cost control at the forefront, the group sought to assess opportunities for savings in three significant expenditure areas: energy, insurance, and IT, total spend equating to £20m.
Our 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.
Data Collection / Analysis
- Energy: The team gathered data on utility bills, consumption patterns, and contract terms for all sites. A detailed comparison across locations revealed inefficiencies and areas for improvement.
- Insurance: All active policies were reviewed to assess coverage, premiums, and claims history. The analysis identified overlaps, gaps, and uncompetitive rates.
- IT: An inventory of IT assets and services was compiled, including software licenses, hardware contracts, and support agreements. Usage patterns were analysed to identify inefficiencies.
Stakeholder Engagement
Collaboration with key stakeholders, including practice managers, IT administrators, and financial officers, ensured that the findings were aligned and grounded in operational realities.
Opportunity Identification
- Energy: Group-wide contracts and centralisation identified as key strategies to reduce costs.
- Insurance: Consolidating policies into a single comprehensive group plan with a single strategic broker offered the potential for significant cost reductions while improving coverage.
- IT: Streamlining software licenses, renegotiating hardware contracts, and adopting centralised
Market Engagement
The team engaged with suppliers to benchmark costs and explore alternative solutions. Bulk purchasing agreements and group-level contracts were proposed to leverage the clients’ scale for better pricing.
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.
Energy
A consolidated energy procurement strategy reduce costs by 12%. Consolidated to a single strategic broker who could optimise the energy strategy along with how the energy was placed and traded in the market. Implementing energy-efficient infrastructure and practices cut consumption by an additional 6%.
Insurance
Consolidating policies into a unified group-level plan managed by a single strategic broker and an optimised approach to claims handling reduced premiums by 7-12% while providing more comprehensive coverage.
IT
Optimising software licensing, renegotiating hardware agreements, and eliminating redundancies delivered an 3% reduction in IT costs.