“Cost-killer”, a job in its own right!
30 December 2008
Read by 3676 persons
How to make a business leader smile in these times of crisis? Tell them they can find even cheaper suppliers for their products! These bringers of good news are called cost-killers. As the name indicates, a cost-killer is literally a cost-killer, a person called within a company to reduce all possible costs, from materials to people, everything goes; a kind of tracker of unnecessary expenses.
A cost-killer is simply a mix between a management controller responsible for classic monitoring of financial and therefore strategic indicators of the company and a purchasing manager, whose role is to place orders and make available to internal customers the products requested. The function of a cost-killer is therefore to verify and rationalize all non-strategic purchases in order to generate savings: stationery, office furniture, telephone and electricity bills, and even business trips sometimes! When it comes to hunting waste, cost-killers are the right people to set the record straight and track down all superfluous expenses.
The function of cost-killer appeared as a job in its own right because, faced with intensified competition on the local and international market, companies are constantly seeking efficiency; and the first source of profits lies essentially in the control and reduction of costs, the very core business of this profile!
Because the work of a person in charge of reducing general expenses within a company is very poorly perceived by internal employees, specialized firms in this field have emerged. Indeed, whoever speaks of cost reduction, essentially of general expenses, speaks of bill stripping and subsequently of disruption of certain habits (personal phone calls, ...). It is therefore simpler for management to delegate this work to an external firm than to entrust it to a person within the company.
In France, there are many consulting firms, experts in optimizing and reducing general expenses. Some have made it their core business, others work in parallel on the reduction of other expenses, including social and tax expenses. Most people in this profession do not like to be called cost-killers because the term has a negative connotation, they prefer “cost control”, a mix between cost-killer and management controller since the job itself involves budgetary adjustment. Their role in companies is to seek potential sources of savings and thus maximize gains.
Most cost-killers are paid entirely on a share of the savings they have managed to make you gain. A “win-win” proposition that serves as a powerful commercial lever. Finally, like any consultant, cost-killers will bring to the company a new experience, a network of suppliers and new tools…
But, unfortunately, cost-killing does not only kill costs in a company, it can also kill the motivation of employees. In companies, compensation is often established between employees and management: the employee makes personal phone calls during working hours; he uses photocopying for personal use; but, in turn, he knows how to return the favor by not missing an opportunity to promote his company even in his extra-professional meetings…
In Moroccan entities, as elsewhere in the world, this function obviously exists, but the term cost-killer is not yet very widespread.
Posted on December 30, 2008
Mariam Amri
Communication Manager-ReKrute
A cost-killer is simply a mix between a management controller responsible for classic monitoring of financial and therefore strategic indicators of the company and a purchasing manager, whose role is to place orders and make available to internal customers the products requested. The function of a cost-killer is therefore to verify and rationalize all non-strategic purchases in order to generate savings: stationery, office furniture, telephone and electricity bills, and even business trips sometimes! When it comes to hunting waste, cost-killers are the right people to set the record straight and track down all superfluous expenses.
The function of cost-killer appeared as a job in its own right because, faced with intensified competition on the local and international market, companies are constantly seeking efficiency; and the first source of profits lies essentially in the control and reduction of costs, the very core business of this profile!
Because the work of a person in charge of reducing general expenses within a company is very poorly perceived by internal employees, specialized firms in this field have emerged. Indeed, whoever speaks of cost reduction, essentially of general expenses, speaks of bill stripping and subsequently of disruption of certain habits (personal phone calls, ...). It is therefore simpler for management to delegate this work to an external firm than to entrust it to a person within the company.
In France, there are many consulting firms, experts in optimizing and reducing general expenses. Some have made it their core business, others work in parallel on the reduction of other expenses, including social and tax expenses. Most people in this profession do not like to be called cost-killers because the term has a negative connotation, they prefer “cost control”, a mix between cost-killer and management controller since the job itself involves budgetary adjustment. Their role in companies is to seek potential sources of savings and thus maximize gains.
Most cost-killers are paid entirely on a share of the savings they have managed to make you gain. A “win-win” proposition that serves as a powerful commercial lever. Finally, like any consultant, cost-killers will bring to the company a new experience, a network of suppliers and new tools…
But, unfortunately, cost-killing does not only kill costs in a company, it can also kill the motivation of employees. In companies, compensation is often established between employees and management: the employee makes personal phone calls during working hours; he uses photocopying for personal use; but, in turn, he knows how to return the favor by not missing an opportunity to promote his company even in his extra-professional meetings…
In Moroccan entities, as elsewhere in the world, this function obviously exists, but the term cost-killer is not yet very widespread.
Posted on December 30, 2008
Mariam Amri
Communication Manager-ReKrute
