Camden Council
Camden Council’s creative services team generated £130K of new revenue
In 2011-12 Camden Council’s in-house creative services team set out to reduce the council’s expenditure on their services whilst increasing the unit’s income. The same team had just completed a four-year efficiency programme, which had already cut the council’s spend on design and print by 79% (£1.79M). Over the following two years, they cut the council’s annual expenditure by a further £248K whilst their revenue from external clients increased sixteen-fold.
Faced with dual targets to cut costs and increase operating margins, the creative services team identified the following three priorities:
Productivity
up 44%
Improve productivity:
With budget cuts reducing the team to just five staff, Panacea Software was used to automate client order processing, administration and reporting. This freed their skilled staff to design and produce 1184 projects in 2012-13.
Reduce expenditure with external suppliers by £230K (38%):
Using Panacea Software to manage a new framework contract, spend with external printers was cut by £195,000. At the same time, 90% of the work previously out-sourced to creative agencies was designed in-house, saving a further £34K. Meanwhile, £18,000 was saved by changing the volume and type of work produced in-house. So the creative services team made annual savings of over £248,000 for the council.
Find new revenue streams:
As a traded unit, the creative services team had to generate income to cover their running costs and support other communications services. Through sole-supplier contracts with Islington Council and the North London Waste Authority and projects from other local clients, they grew their total revenue from external clients from £8K in 2010-11 to £138K in 2012-13.
Account Management 98%
Print Quality
97%
Client feedback rated the Creative Services as Good/Excellent
Creativity
96%
Like many council services, we face huge budget cuts year on year, while the need for effective communications remains high. Our skilled team has been able to meet these challenges head on, thanks to the automation, management information and cost savings we have gained using Panacea Software. It is no small feat for an in-house team of this size to meet ever increasing demands with ever decreasing budgets – with such high approval ratings from our growing client base.
— Ros Daniel, Creative Services Manager, Camden Council
“We took the decision to manage our print framework contract through the use of a dynamic purchasing system (DPS) which is provided by Panacea. This has enabled Camden to maintain a truly competitive supplier-base. We were able to implement it quickly, and it helps us maintain and support best value for the council through its competitive nature, whilst complying with procurement law.”
— Steven Blantz, Category Manager, Camden Council