Case Study - Ameriprise Financial Above the Standard Procurement Group, Inc. ®, www.atspg.com

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Case Study - Ameriprise FinancialOctober 15, 2012

This client partner approached us via personal contacts and word of mouth. They are a small office of six professionals, which is very typical of the Ameriprise model. National Ameriprise offices are locally owned franchis-

es responsible for their own operations, advertising, sales, and staff. In Rochester alone there are five Ameriprise offices. This is in contrast to other financial ser-vice companies that maintain a centralized infrastructure and management, such as Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, and other notable financial institutions.

Because they are an independently operated small office, it was determined dur-ing our no cost assessment that they were unable to take advantage of any type of leveraged spend and were paying a disproportionate amount for office related materials and services.

Spend Analysis Conducted

An on-site meeting and full spend review revealed that the single largest spend item by far was office supplies, mostly toner and paper. Other categories had small potential for future engagements, including telecom and payroll. Other categories were not auctionable like building rental, utilities, and insurance.

Office SuppliesOffice supplies are purchased by an administrative assistant who uses the Staples Reward on line system to order and receive. It was managed fairly well with monthly discounts taken advantage of and rewards point used.

Savings project conducted � With six month’s worth of purchasing data a bid package was developed us-

ing a representative market basket of materials. � A Request for Proposal was sent to four potential suppliers including the in-

cumbent Staples, Office Max, WB Mason, and FM Products (local distributor). � Proposals were requested for basket of top purchases plus delivery plus other

value add products or services they might offer. � Staples Advantage was selected by the client, which is a selective tiered

program offering discounts to larger accounts. By positioning the client as a part of a larger potential buying group (Ameriprise overall), the discounts are higher than a single office might achieve.

� Staples was brought in to assist with the implementation and highlighted sev-eral other areas of spend that the client could utilize Staples for – janitorial, coffee, and merchandising.

Company Name

Ameriprise Financial – Pittsford, New York Office

Industry

Financial Advisement and Services

Initial Need(s)/Project(s)

Cost Reduction with Operational Spend

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Case Study - Ameriprise FinancialOctober 15, 2012

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ResultsAfter implementation, savings on office supplies was documented to be 20% on same-item sales. Furthermore, alternative products (generic paper, remanufac-tured toner) presented a significant level of potential savings if the client chose to take it. As for service level, a local representative was on-site to meet with the office and establish a relationship for future service. The bottom line result, just for this one area, was thousands saved per year.

The client office was pleased enough to offer this testimonial on the project. They said:

“We have utilized Above the Standard Procurement Group with great success in saving time and money. As a small office we do not get the leverage of a corporate buying contract, and quite frankly, we do not have the time to analyze every pur-chase we make. Their competent team reviewed our expenditures and leveraged their network of suppliers to provide a significant cost savings to us, with minimal time effort on our part. It probably is the best investment you can make in your business to control costs going forward, and we highly recommend their services.”

Richard C. Oaster, CFP, MBA, CDFA, Ameriprise Financial Services, Pittsford NY

Expanding the ResultsWith the success and testimonial at a single office, we tailored a targeted email campaign to all Ameriprise offices in the region explaining specifically what their savings could be. Results at one office could be parlayed theoretically to 10,000 similar operations around the country.