Compleat Buyers Group (CBG) Membership Services
The Compleat Buyers Group (CBG) is an annual membership service and includes the following:
License to use discounts
CBG Members are entitled to use any and all of the negotiated discounts at any licensed site. NB: licenses are per site and the pricing for multi-site customers will be reflected in the Compleat proposal.
Access to the CBG Portal and Catalogues
CBG has created (and maintains / updates daily) the comprehensive electronic catalogues of 10,000’s of items that contains the products and services of CBG suppliers, reflecting the relevant suppliers products codes, descriptions, unit & measurement, current prices (etc).
This centralised management of CBG Catalogues is totally unique, improving the ease of use and driving user adoption because it is so simple and fast to use. The CBG Catalogues also ensure that every order is correct, using the suppliers product codes, descriptions and pricing. Accurate orders results in correct deliveries, correct purchase invoices and reduces the cost and implications of errors.
The changes to the CBG catalogues are automatically downloaded to CBG clients Compleat Purchase to Pay and Employee Expenses servers each night, providing the Compleat user with the current products and services and making the software extremely easy to use.
The Compleat Buyers Group’s unique approach to Catalogue Management overcomes the costs, lack of control and training requirements associated with “Punch Out” technologies.
Detailed Review Savings Analysis
Members receive the Detailed Review Savings Analysis file that was used to generate the Savings Summary Report already issued. This is sent as an Excel worksheet to the main contact at the member and forms a key component of the implementation project strategy.
Savings workshop
This is an onsite meeting with the main contact and any other stakeholders that are likely to be involved in the related purchasing decisions. The meeting usually takes place early in the software deployment and configuration project.
The purpose of the workshop is to go through the whole Detailed Review Savings Analysis file, explain the savings potential and help the client to prioritise the actions required to start the savings process.
Some of the opportunities listed as ‘Needs More Work’ may also be progressed. This may require a specification, a drawing, a physical sample or a site visit by the CBG supplier.
CBG will also collect and record any outstanding information about contract and term agreement renewal dates, notice periods andrelevant details. This information will be implemented within Compleat to ensure that the review process starts in good time to ensure a competitive CBG quotation is made available prior to the renewal / notification of cancellation date.
For every priority action, CBG will initiate the supplier contact and ensure that they make contact with the member. Where applicable they will help the member to open a supplier account. The relevant CBG Catalogue items will be enabled in the software and made available to users as the software goes live.
Regular support visits
The appointed CBG account manager will visit your offices on a regular basis (up to 8 visits per year) to maintain the momentum on the activities needed for clients to achieve the savings. All actions agreed will be logged on the CBG client database.
Energy negotiation service
The CBG is part of one of the largest energy negotiating pools in the UK and this pool takes no commission from the energy suppliers. As a result CBG clients receive the benefits of entire leveraged spend to get the best electricity and gas prices available. This is achieved by fully understanding the energy needs of each business involved and using the latest on-line reverse auction technology to negotiate each contract.
Confidential insurance benchmark
This involves an independent audit of your current insurance programme carried out by insurance experts. The audit identifies any deficiencies in your existing insurance provision and generates a benchmarked guide to what the premiums should be for your business. The audit takes three weeks including an initial site survey and final presentation culminating in a guaranteed pricing proposal. As always, the decision to change remains with you, however most organisations opt to make the change and take the savings.
Helpline, e-support & save-by-fax
Telephone support is provided between 9.00am to 5.00pm weekdays and as the support desk is manned by professional buyers, most questions can be answered immediately. Any invoices faxed or emailed will be benchmarked against the buying group prices to highlight additional savings.
Contract renewal service
All contract renewal dates will be logged onto our database so that a reminder can be sent to each member in sufficient time to renegotiate their next contract. This service is in addition to the notification generated by Compleat Purchase to Pay software.
Weekly energy price monitor
Timing is the most important factor in the competitive negotiation of energy contracts and hence every member receives a weekly Energy Price Brief produced by some of the leading market forecasters in the country. In addition to detailed commentary on the underlying trends and market influences, the weekly brief includes a simple ‘traffic light’ guide advising the optimum time to go to market. This best-in-class advice has enabled members consistently to capitalise on the benefits of its combined buying power.
Guarantee to find savings
Please note that the guarantee provided is to find savings and not to deliver them. Member businesses are assumed to be able to take the actions required (and detailed with the Detailed Review Analysis) to achieve the savings identified.
CBG recommends those clients that do not have dedicated purchasing staff consider making use of our Active Cost Management service (see below).
Other Compleat Buyers Group Services:
The Compleat Buyers Group also makes available a range of additional services to our clients. These services are not included within the annual subscription and are subject to an additional charge.
Active Cost Management: Additional on-site work to deliver savings
Most of our clients are busy people and many do not have the resources, expertise or simply the time to maximise the CBG savings without additional help.
Active Cost Management is the provision of a professional buyer to take the lead in the execution of making the savings and enable organisations to focus on the expenditure that matters the most.
Active Cost Management offers all the benefits of fully outsourced management of overheads (i.e. Facilities Management) but in a very cost-effective way. Identified savings are implemented rapidly through the provision of the additional expert resource. In the initial period of the project, clients often have a Compleat Buyer on-site for one to three days per week.
Whilst suppliers still contract directly with all of the CBG members, a very hands-on approach towards supplier management ensure all internal requirements are met and often exceeded. Typical areas covered include: cleaning, security, catering, office expenditure, packaging, logistics, travel, fleet costs, workwear, maintenance etc.
The Active Cost Management service is very flexible, enabling our clients to balance the long-term savings achieved through the additional professional resources against the cost of the service.
Purchasing Health Check
The Purchasing Health Check is a simple yet thorough assessment that can help identify areas for improvement and potential cost savings in any purchasing department.
Aimed at SME businesses the health-check is completed in one or two days and covers the purchasing strategy of materials, services and consumables together with an assessment of procurement staff, systems, structure, supply base and senior management support.
The Health Check concludes with a feedback presentation and printed report. The Purchasing Health Check has consistently helped businesses take a decisive step forward in their procurement development.
Product sourcing
Many purchases are suitable candidates for potential cost-savings available from countries with a low cost of labour.
A large and growing network of both UK and overseas procurement specialists is available to fully explore such potential projects and to identify suitable suppliers. Working with an experienced sourcing agent, businesses are able to quickly assess the potential for cost reductions.
A strict vendor-neutral policy is maintained so that we do not represent any specific manufacturers allowing us to act in the best interests of the client involved at all times. We are also able to manage the complete procurement process including shipping, storage and logistics and as such, we are well placed to promote continuous improvement throughout the entire supply process.
Supply Chain Optimisation
Businesses have been able to determine the optimal operation of their supply or distribution chain through Supply Chain Optimisation. This includes the study of inventory within the supply chain and minimising operating and transportation costs. Supply Chain optimisation addresses the problem of trading-off the costs of inventory, transportation, distributing and manufacturing whilst not affecting customer satisfaction.
e-Auction
The potential benefits of online auctions are well documented; however the cost of installing and maintaining the software can be considerable and precludes many SME businesses from using the technology.
Through a partnership with one of the major full-function e-Sourcing companies we are able to provide access to the technology on a per-auction basis so that businesses looking to explore this negotiation tool can now do so cost-effectively.
Payment Analysis and Overspend Recovery
In large organisations, even with the strictest accounting controls, it is nonetheless common to find duplicate payments, overpayments and unclaimed input VAT.
Through a rigorous examination of past transaction data, errors are identified in the trading history in such key spends as rent & rates, advertising, professional fees, utilities, insurance IT services, logistics partners and VAT.
Whilst these errors may only relate to 0.1% of the transactions the value recoverable can mount up. The overpayments are then collected without adverse impact on the businesses.
Energy/ Carbon Reduction Projects
There are several new technologies that can dramatically reduce the amount of energy a business uses. To assess the potential benefit of
all of these to a business a one-day Energy Intervention can be requested. The output of the Intervention will be a series of fully-costed proposals that the business can then consider.
Purchasing Academy Training
The exclusive online Purchasing Academy provides courses in Purchasing Basics & Strategic Sourcing.
These courses outline best practice and contain a complete set of tools & templates to support both approaches. The training incorporates full online eLearning using the latest technology in streaming video and electronic learning management. In addition the Purchasing Academy can provide on-site courses across a wide range of purchasing topics.
Interim Placements (Buy-a-buyer)
There are many reasons why a business may need to increase the available procurement resource. Perhaps the existing resource becomes temporarily unavailable due to illness, maternity or project work; or simply the requirements have become too great for the existing team.
Whatever the reason, the Buy-a-Buyer service can provide buyers, purchasing managers, supply chain professionals and order clerks on a part-time or a full-time basis for either a temporary or permanent position. The Buy-a-Buyer service allows a cost effective way to increase the human resources in the purchasing function to meet immediate pressing needs.
About Compleat Software
Compleat Software is a UK organisation and was formed in 1999. In April 2008 the organisation secured investment through the Stockford Group and has been expanding rapidly to meet the growing demand for Purchase to Pay and Employee Expenses automation software from
the small to medium sized business community.
The Compleat Buyers Group was launched in January 2011, enabling our clients to make significant savings on their purchasing simply by paying less on what they already buy. The leveraged purchasing power of the Compleat Buyers Group is delivering clients a compelling cash based ROI in as little as six months for a fully operational Compleat Spend Control solution.
Compleat Software sells through a rapidly growing number of leading UK accounting software resellers that provide local expertise, geographical coverage and vertical market specialisation.
Today, Compleat has over 4,500 users that collectively spend over £2 billion per annum using Compleat Purchase to Pay and Employee Expenses automation software.
Potential Return on Investment
The ROI calculations are simple and based on hard cash that never leaves your bank account and drops directly to the bottom line profit.
A small reduction in the cost of your discretionary spend achieved through the Compleat Buyers Group, combined with a reduction in maverick budget overspend will usually represent a hard cash ROI of under 6 months for most organisations.
The savings then continue far into the future, increasing profit and improving cashflow.
It’s time to take control of corporate spending
Compleat is enabling organisations to take control of corporate spending.
- Improved productivity through purchasing and employee expenses automation
- Significant savings through the Buyers Group by paying less for what you already buy
- Delivering improved cashflow and profitability
- Compleat is priced to be affordable, scalable and designed from the bottom up to increase productivity and efficiency throughout every organisation.