Coor’s relationship with Arcus dates back to 2004 when they asked for strategic advice in making their support services more efficient. The first assignment? To reduce service costs by 20 percent.
Helping Arcus close the cost gap
As Vice President of the Group’s Strategy and Business Development, Rolf Kragerud has been involved in cutting costs across the entire organization. Having identified a cost gap in the provision of services, his team considered two ways of closing that gap. One option was to outsource; the other was to do it themselves. “My first hypothesis was that outsourcing would place more focus on our services—that it would give our service employees a new corporate culture and a new approach,” recalls Kragerud.
They chose to first try it themselves. And, with strategic advice from Coor, Arcus went a long way towards closing that cost gap. Then, in 2005, they began negotiating an outsourcing contract with Coor.
Coor’s responsibilities cover a variety of support functions relating to the operation of their properties – including property maintenance, switchboard, security, canteen, mailroom, reception and cleaning. As a part of the agreement, Coor also hired 23 Arcus employees.
Though many of the efficiency gains took place during the strategic advisory phase, what Arcus now appreciates most is how the outsourcing contract frees their management to take on other responsibilities.
Why Coor?
Kragerud says that Coor did two things right: “First, they knew how to communicate with executive management. They took an excellent strategic perspective on the services we benchmarked. They raised important issues and presented them professionally. Secondly, while most service companies would divide the services up among subsuppliers, Coor combined the whole constellation of services in one package.”
