SUMS knows the higher education sector inside out and we have lived experience of how universities operate, their commercial concerns and how best to address them. We understand how institutions actually operate – the governance, the politics, and the competing priorities. Our consultants have all held senior operational roles inside universities, or as experts advising universities from commercial consultancies. That means there’s no learning curve when SUMS starts an engagement. We also bring benchmarked data from across our membership, so our recommendations are grounded in what’s working elsewhere in the sector rather than in generic commercial theory.
What happened? The institution’s cost base was no longer sustainable, with costs exceeding revenue and projected to worsen in future years.. With a significant political spotlight on the institution, SUMS was asked to support the improvement journey.
Our approach: We benchmarked spending by function and activity, assessed service maturity across the operation, and ran targeted workshops with the senior management cohort to identify where existing provision was either duplicated or adding cost without positively impacting strategy.
The outcomes: £9m in recurrent cash savings identified and now in implementation, with a sustainable operating model for the future identified and opportunities highlighted for potential shared services with other organisations.
