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For any Multi-Academy Trust, saving money, streamlining purchasing and reducing their carbon footprint are important goals. Find out how Banner’s focused account management and one stop shop service made all the difference to a group of schools across the North and Midlands.
Objective
A mixed Multi-Academy Trust, Star Academies, runs a network of 28 primary and secondary schools in areas such as Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and East London.
A person at each school is responsible for buying educational supplies and can do this through Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC), the educational consortium providing legally compliant purchasing frameworks across a wide range of products and services.
Greater value, more streamlined buying processes and improved sustainability were all key goals for Star Academies Trust when Banner, the sole supplier on the CPC stationery and education supplies framework, first started working with the Trust.
With pressures on education funding greater than ever, helping Trust members to achieve more with every pound was key.
Solution
Banner formed a close partnership with Star Academies to help the schools achieve greater value than they had with their previous suppliers.
Nichola Glendinning, Internal Account Manager at Banner, and Nizam Ismail, Procurement Manager at the Trust, identified a list of schools most likely to benefit from extra benchmarking and quotation support to achieve greater value from the contract.
To address the reluctance of some schools to switch supplier, Star set up a working group to give buyers at each school the opportunity to ask questions and discuss any purchasing issues directly with Nichola.
Nichola carried out a review of purchases by the primary and secondary schools across the Trust. With stationery books among the biggest area of spend for the Trust, Banner recommended ways to achieve better value from these and a wide range of stationery products.
Nizam Ismali, Procurement Manager at the Trust, said: “Banner have been a pleasure to work with the past 12 months, with special mention to Nichola who is always willing to assist with any query and help our schools achieve best value on their stationery purchases. Nichola has worked really closely with all our schools to make sure that Banner are supplying the most suitable products at the best price possible”
Result
As a one stop shop, Banner was able to help schools across the Trust order more cost effectively and realise greater cost savings. As a result of this, the schools allocated other areas of their budget to Banner, increasing their spend by 50%.
One service review found that the Trust is buying more best value products than ever, helping the schools to achieve better value by using own brand ranges.
The quarterly meetings, which were held over an 18-month period, led to the schools feeling so confident in the service and support, that they became no longer necessary. Nizam now liaises directly with Banner on behalf of the schools.
Star Academies Trust has allowed Banner to upload its catalogue to its’ PS Financials system. Schools are kept up to date on products and services, with print catalogues sent to them on a quarterly basis by Banner.
By encouraging schools to place bulk orders, Nichola and Nizam have also helped to reduce the Trust’s carbon footprint and CO² emissions by 17% reduction in 2019.
Craig Ainley, Education Key Account Manager: “Nichola’s excellent work with Star Academies Trust has been vital to this outcome. Supplies like stationery can be a significant cost, but Nichola used her expertise and account management skills to help buyers do more than they thought possible. By working collaboratively with Star Academies Trust, Nichola has helped a lot of schools to achieve better value and improve their carbon footprint at the same time.”
