Operational Management & Optimisation

OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT
& OPTIMISATION

AN ICON CASE STUDY

THE CLIENT

Ceiling manufacturing and distribution

BACKGROUND

The client needed to separate existing markets within its business to comply with EU anti-competition rules. As a result, the client needed an outsourcing partner capable of managing their Customer Order Service (COS) team responsible for B2B sales and account management operations in 11 markets across Europe and the Middle East.

SCOPE OF WORK

Sales and
upselling

Account
development

Supply-chain
operations

Transport
planning

Order
management

Claim and credit
handling

Customer service
support

In-country brand
representation

SPECIFIC PROBLEMS

ICON also needed to rectify several critical areas of mismanagement to improve operations. Specifically –

- The provisioning of incorrect transport discounts to customers at a far higher value than was necessary.

- Unaccounted for and unpaid overtime resulted in poor employee retention.
- Order entry mistakes lead to incorrect invoicing and loss of revenue.
- MIP (Missed Item Promise) reports were inaccurate – missed delivery dates and cancelled orders cost 28,000EUR in one month alone.
- COS taking 100 hours per month to clear credit notes.

SOLUTION & RESULTS

The client’s COS team of 15 employees were transferred (via TUPE) to ICON, and ICON provided an experienced multilingual leadership team to manage the operations and the incoming employees. In addition, the new team benefited from the full support wraps of existing ICON departments – Training & Development, HR, ICT, Talent Acquisition, Payroll, and Mental Health First Aid.

ICON used its experience to rectify COS operational issues –

£ 9500

saved in the first 2 months thanks to newly developed transport discount processes.

£ 36500

saved in recruitment and training in 3 months thanks to improved overtime reporting that corrected remuneration and combatted attrition.

£ 47500

was recovered from the UK market alone, thanks to twice-weekly reports created to flag discrepancies and prevent invoicing errors.

> 0 %

attainment for the new OTIF (On Time/In Full) KPI, which replaced the MIP.

c. 0 %

reduction in hours applied to handling credit note tasks thanks to improved communication processes that reinforced correct sales processes.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

ICON undertook a comprehensive update of all business process documentation.

ICON created a three-year sales plan to identify and capture market opportunities.

WHY ICON?

Experienced outsourcing provider

Multilingual sales and customer support experience

Owner-operated business

Depth of management experience within ICON

Proven B2B and B2C sales methodologies

Breadth of internal support services

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For a free consultation about how ICON’s outsourcing solutions can grow your business and care for your customers in their native language, please contact Julian Little from ICON’s New Business Team.