Outcomes
The programme delivered £5.1 million in annualised cost savings across more than 30 spend categories spanning IT, HR, facilities management, professional services, fleet, telecoms, and operational expenditure. Over 80 ideas were generated across 20 workshops, with more than 80 key suppliers engaged throughout the process. Quick wins of over £0.5 million were delivered within the first few weeks, providing immediate momentum. The CEO said: “The Curzon team approached the complex task with energy and professionalism, which was key to the ultimate success of the programme. The technical knowledge and capability of the Curzon team were clear from the start of the engagement and we had total faith in their capability to deliver the ambitious goals they had been set. Marston would recommend Curzon to anyone who requires the domain knowledge and experience of a capable consulting partner.”
Background
Operating at significant scale across a complex, multi-division structure, the business had accumulated a fragmented and largely unoptimised procurement base. Spend categories had grown organically across divisions without the benefit of cross-business coordination, supplier rationalisation, or systematic commercial challenge. In an increasingly inflationary environment, the cost of inaction was rising, and the business needed a partner with the procurement expertise and commercial creativity to find savings that internal teams had not been able to unlock themselves.
Curzon Approach
Curzon moved at pace from the outset, conducting a rapid opportunity assessment to define the savings landscape before committing to a structured delivery plan. Rather than applying a single procurement lever, Curzon deployed six distinct approaches across the category portfolio, each selected for where it would have the greatest impact.
Quick win workshops engaged key suppliers rapidly to surface immediately implementable cost reduction ideas, delivering £0.5 million within the first few weeks and establishing the credibility of the programme early. Structured go-to-market and tendering activity was then applied to categories with the strongest competitive opportunity, using advanced negotiation techniques including e-Auctions across complex categories such as IT, temporary labour, and others.
Demand management and specification optimisation targeted the way the business purchased rather than simply who it purchased from, identifying opportunities across print, postage, penalty notice formats, and uniform specifications to reduce cost without reducing capability. Product harmonisation across all divisions standardised the uniform portfolio, simplifying the demand profile, improving supply continuity, and generating material savings through volume consolidation.
In one of the most innovative workstreams, Curzon worked in close collaboration with suppliers to implement a new consolidated IT device that replaced multiple individual devices, improving agent satisfaction and delivering substantial savings through specification innovation rather than price negotiation alone. A make-versus-buy assessment of services including recruitment identified opportunities to internalise or outsource selectively, with Curzon supporting through both the analysis and the implementation phase.
