OCS case study
THE COMPANY
OCS offers one complete solution for property support services, for large and small customers alike. Services include catering, cleaning, hygiene, security and transport as well as a range of integrated and specialist services. OCS Group Limited is still 100% owned by the founders’ descendants with an annual turnover in excess of £600 million, making OCS Group Limited the largest privately-owned support services company in the UK. It was through the vision of the founders‘ descendents that a small window cleaning enterprise in London developed into the largest privately-owned property maintenance company in the United Kingdom, with outlets in five continents around the world.
THE CUSTOMER’S CHALLENGE
OCS was looking to create a single vendor solution for their voice, data and mobile needs. Their main goals were:
- Reduce management overhead of managing three existing suppliers
- Develop a more flexible technical solution to take advantage of convergent technologies
- Develop more resilient network infrastructure
- Support increased use of emerging technologies, particularly in the mobility area
- Realise cost savings moving forwards
THE NETWORK COLLECTIVE APPROACH
At the point OCS engaged The Network Collective, they had already selected a preferred supplier through their own internal procurement process. The Network Collective was hired to negotiate a contract that incorporated the best possible commercial, technical and service terms and to design an SLA (Service Level Agreement) that mapped to their business needs. Often SLAs suggested by suppliers are not clearly relevant to the needs and issues of the customer’s business – The Network Collective’s SLAs measure vital criteria that allow the customer not only to understand how their service is performing, but also to drive service delivery behaviour from the supplier.
Stage 1 - GAP analysis – 2 weeks
- Reviewed OCS’ chosen preferred supplier (Azzurii Communications) to identify areas that needed work.
- Reviewed Azzurii’s existing proposals against OCS’s requirements and against the best terms The Network Collective knew to be available in the market. OCS considered the quality of market intelligence provided by The Network Collective to be a critical component of obtaining robust agreement with the supplier.
Stage 2 - Planning the strategy – 2 weeks
- Agreed negotiation strategy and targets with OCS.
Stage 3 - Negotiation – 4 weeks
- Worked with in-house OCS teams to define and handle all aspects of the negotiation process, including legals, commercial, technical, SLAs and engagement model (how Azzurri will deliver the service).
- The Network Collective led the negotiation process whilst ensuring all relevant contacts within OCS were involved and that the solution met their requirements.
THE CUSTOMER'S VIEW
"OCS has set out a challenging agenda to outsource integrated management of its telecommunications services for fixed voice, mobile and wide area network. The ability of The Network Collective to provide OCS with both market intelligence and inside track experience of negotiating the commercial terms and SLAs with telecoms providers was critical to a successful outcome for OCS. We have retained The Network Collective on a consultancy basis to help us evolve our integrated telecoms strategy, taking into account new technology and commercial opportunities."
Jenny Sener, Director of ICT, OCS Group UK Ltd
