Here are the key questions that a management team should consider as part of a focused cost reduction program:

– Have we set a target, and how do we know it is achievable?

– Do we require more transformational change?

– How quickly do we need to get the cost out? Next month? Next year?

– How can we align cost targets with organizational priorities?

– Can we dedicate the team to the project envisioned, or do we need help?

– What should our PMO look like (size, structure)?

– Have we considered what the necessary reporting and tracking looks like?

– Do we have a change management plan in place?

– Can we create a better cost culture going forward? How do we keep costs from creeping back in?

– Do we have the right team and leaders to get the job done?

That last question is one that management teams do not consider often enough. Most organizations have in-house resources that are very capable of managing day-to-day operations. Every organization has the potential to conduct audits of their billings, renegotiate their vendor contracts, and achieve some degree of significant savings. However, working with an outsourced service provider that brings a broader set of tools and experience to the team can often produce better results.

Outside experts have superior vendor management expertise, access to document management technology, and an understanding of benchmark analytics that vendor management staff would rarely be able to acquire on their own. Bottom-line: implement a strategy, challenge the status quo, and make sure you have the right resources in place to optimize your profits.”

Limitless Technology, LLC has been managing complex indirect spend and vendor documentation since 2006 for some of the largest companies in the USA, saving them millions in costs.

Through our Billing Optimization and Vendor Management Solutions proprietary platforms we utilize technology, processes, expertise, time, and resources to improve our clients bottom-line. Limitless Technology manages your vendors, so you can manage and grow your business.

Why are we trying to do everything in-house, and when do we start looking outside to experts who are better suited to improve our bottom line.

Here are some key considerations your company should be looking for as you determine if an outsourced managed service solution will create value for your company:

Does outsourcing align with our internal resource needs?

As you evaluate your internal staffing, resource roadmap, and internal processes, does a managed services solution allow you to unburden your staff so they can handle other business-critical activities?   Will a fully managed solution deliver the improvements better than we can internally?

Are their experts better than ours?

You need to ensure the VMS provider is designed and resourced by a team of subject matter experts that are focused on cost reduction and have the appropriate industry expertise to provide you with the required improvements to your organization.

Is our process proven to provide results?

Do you have a cost reduction strategy?  A proven process that begins with assessing the current state of your vendor agreements and contracts, resulting in demonstrated savings should be a prerequisite.  

Scalable and Reliable Service Level Performance

Can the provider meet your unexpected demands (higher number of new vendor diligence than you anticipated) and align with your growth plans to scale with your accordingly?

Are You Ready for Outsourcing?

If you are unclear if outsourcing makes sense for you, consider the following as objectives that outsourcing some or all of your Vendor Management Program is something you should be considering:

• Lowering Costs
• Streamlining Operations
• Implementing Best Practices 

In the end, outsourcing your Vendor Management function can make sense on many fronts.  It can send a message to your staff, executives, board members, and investors that your take seriously the responsibilities to mitigate third-party risk, optimize your operating costs, ensure regulatory compliance and strive for excellence.

Ask yourself these questions…

• Do you know how many assets your organization has and needs to track?
• How many users need to have access?
• Where are the assets located?
• Is the asset being used?

The benefits of asset management

Keeping track of the assets of the company is an important task that can save companies money and time. Asset management is the process of maximizing the assets of the company to provide the best returns to stakeholders. It can tell where the assets are located, how they are used, and when changes were made to them.

Here are a few examples

• Demonstrated compliance with the requirements and wishes of your stakeholders
• Better financial results because of better ROI and/or cost reduction
• Informed decisions from multiple angles, such as performance, profit and costs, risks and opportunities
• Risks managed when necessary and knowingly existent when acceptable
• Higher customer satisfaction
• Decisions also based on entire life cycle of assets (also when this exceeds the duration of other plans)
• Stability of the production in the long term
• Improved reputation towards your stakeholders
• Demonstrated compliance with regulation and legislation
• Traceability of decisions
• Improved knowledge management
• Increased attractiveness for shareholders

Vendor Management offers substantial assistance in the management of assets. Asset tracking lets organizations and individuals catalogue, track, organize, audit and manage information about assets of all types, from information technology assets to office equipment and company vehicles.

Added benefits of Asset Management 

• Good Business Practice
• More Meaningful Financial Reporting
• Improved Regulatory Compliance
• Improved Reliability
• Long Term System Integrity
• Cost Savings

Using a Vendor Management Solution to track assets

It is almost impossible to track assets properly without a vendor management solution that incorporates asset management into your cost reduction strategy. Systems like the one that is part of our flagship vendor management solution, VMS Platinum, are typically part of a fully managed service that enables businesses to not only cut costs but also: control expenses, drive service excellence and mitigate risks.  Our solution at Limitless Technology Cost Reduction Services also provides increased visibility and value from their vendors. We leverage our proprietary on-line software, giving you absolute visibility into your vendors and spend. No matter what the vendor or the services that our clients provide – they have a comprehensive view into their: services, contracts, rates, terms, conditions and spends through this sophisticated web-based solution.

Limitless Technology, LLC has been managing complex indirect spend and vendor documentation since 2006 for some of the largest companies in the USA saving them millions in costs.

Through our Billing Optimization and Vendor Management Solutions proprietary platforms, we utilize technology, processes, expertise, time, and resources to improve our client’s bottom line.

Limitless Technology manages your vendors, so you can manage and grow your business.

Operational staff and process owners don’t always understand the complexities of the initial contract. It is signed and filed – end of the story. However, the question remains… is the contract still measured for performance, ensuring nothing which is critical during the life of the contract has been overlooked or omitted?

Management teams can deal with hundreds of contracts at once, so it is easy for a contract term, condition, or renewal to slip through the cracks.

Here’s the nightmare. Imagine working months or years, ushering a deal through the process, only to miss the renewal and miss out on the revenue reduction that comes with it. That revenue has been forecasted from the beginning of the contract cycle, so now operations and finance need to go back and adjust their numbers to reflect the loss. This is not only time-consuming but also carries no guarantee the vendor will honor the rate reduction now or in the future.

On a day-to-day basis, your managers oversee all aspects in relation to your company’s contracts. With so many moving parts in your fast-growing organization, managing these contracts can become a real problem if you are not equipped with the right tools.

Many companies ARE getting ahead of this problem by finding a partner with the tools and expertise to manage the details, as it relates to local, regional, or even national service-related costs. They need a partner they can trust, that will do the benchmark analysis on every single vendor, ensure bills get paid on time and services providers aren’t taking advantage of you, and actively renegotiate for lower pricing and better T&Cs, ultimately resulting in the elimination of “spend fat” and more strategic use of budgets.

A fully managed vendor management solution simplifies contract management lifecycles, making it easier on your staff, compliance team, and legal department. This IS what our team at Limitless does All Day and Every Day. We take this burden off of your people so they can focus on the bigger problems. Plus, we partner with each member of your team, so they feel confident that they can maintain the overall control and don’t lose the vendor relationships they value but DO gain the critical support they need to make better decisions. The support we provide allows your team to focus on the more important work of ensuring occupancy rates, delivering exceptional resident experiences, and growing their business and market share.

Limitless Technology, LLC has been managing complex indirect spend and vendor documentation since 2006 for some of the largest companies in the USA saving them millions in costs.

Through our Billing Optimization and Vendor Management Solutions proprietary platforms, we utilize technology, processes, expertise, time, and resources to improve our client’s bottom line.

Limitless Technology manages your vendors, so you can manage and grow your business.

For Additional Information Contact us at 407.330.4466

Vendor management is a core competence in successful business. In a competitive marketplace, businesses must look at creative ways to extract more value from providers, while reducing risk and upholding quality.

Simply beating suppliers down on price year after year is not a sustainable strategy!

Limitless Technology, LLC has been managing complex indirect spend and vendor documentation since 2006 for some of the largest companies in the USA saving them millions in costs.

Through our Billing Optimization and Vendor Management Solutions proprietary platforms, we utilize technology, processes, expertise, time, and resources to improve our client’s bottom line.

Limitless Technology manages your vendors, so you can manage and grow your business.

For Additional Information Contact us at 407.330.4466

As a business owner, you deal with stressful situations all the time. We are, however, in uncharted waters. Are you struggling to find a way to navigate through this painful cycle? Many executives just like you are as well.. You are trying to keep your business open, keep employees gainfully employed, and continue to serve your customers. Bottom-line, it can be overwhelming. There are solutions available. ​Here are a few options…

​Help your employees work from home
Great idea for some, but it’s not for everyone. If you are lucky enough to be one of the companies that can do this and you can get past the challenge of implementing the technology, how do you measure and monitor its effectiveness? Do you have the management or monitoring in place to know if it is helping you “stay afloat” and “keep the doors open”? Do you have a process to ensure its working?

Focus on Cost Reduction
Seems logical…but how do you figure out where to start? Who do you call first? ? How do you reduce cost or lengthen the contract term as fast as possible, and do it the right way? Do you have anyone on your team that even knows what a “good” contract looks like?

If you need help with these problems and others which are financially impacting you, please reach out to us. We are happy to provide some free advice and guidance, and do our small part to help in this trying and difficult time. You can reach out to us at : ​​http://limitlesstechnology.com/contact-us1/

We will help in any way we can.

​Be Aware, Be Well, Stay Safe, Stay Strong!

“Through 2019, EVERY dollar invested in innovation across a business will require an additional $7 in IT execution, which SVM leaders will have to manage,” said Claudio Da Rold, research vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

Knowing the statistics on levels of investment, every business leader has a 7x greater reason to look more deeply into their IT operations and the vendors they choose! The question to ask is, “How do C-Level executives choose the right IT partners when knowing the cost to their organization is incredibly high?

How Do Executives Select the Right IT Vendors?

• When choosing the right vendors and suppliers, there are a few areas of focus:
  • Can the vendor handle the breadth and scope of infrastructure to handle the projects assigned?
    • Proper capabilities
    • Infrastructure in place
  • Does the vendor have a proven record of performance?
    • A History of achieving prior project deliverables
    • Recommendations of business leaders in similar industries

These points are a simple guide to assist leaders in determining the correct resources for their organization when a company directive is rolled out and a new IT resource needs to be chosen.

After Executives Select the right Vendors, Are Systems in Place to Manage Them?

A strong external IT resource will still need a focused system in place to manage their day-to-day impact on your business. However, one major problem in the IT industry is that company’s internal IT teams don’t have the time and, in most cases, the resources to manage their IT, Telecom, and VOIP systems at a micro-level. They are too busy managing the system-wide issues that arise daily and impact employees’ productivity on a ground level.

Often, IT teams leave secondary issues to handle a later time. The problem with these issues is that they often lead to costly expenditures for the organization. A short list of examples below:

• Products/services that are no longer needed by the organization due to a structural change in the business
• Billing discrepancies caused by disconnect from ground-level teams
• Small issues impacting individual locations as opposed to company-wide outages

C-Level executives need to understand the cost impact leaving these issues unresolved can cause their organization. A cost-effective strategy is to employ a third-party organization with the skills and ability to manage the above issues, so that internal resources can focus on “putting out the fires” that are an immediate need.

Find out more about our company and how we assist in managing both processes here.

This includes IT services, office supplies, delivery services, utilities, rentals, and the goods needed to run business day to day. GET entire list of vendors here. When you consider the myriad of services and supplies businesses need in order to operate strategic management of those service providers and vendors – they need to be first and foremost the core of importance, but you’d be surprised at how often it isn’t.

Most companies might think their vendor management solution is “just fine the way it is”, and in some cases that might be true. The real issue is that only a few businesses know exactly what to even LOOK FOR or even where to begin, and without that information they might find that their current process is lacking in more ways than one.

So how do you ensure you have the BEST VENDOR MANAGEMENT SOLUTION?

You must consider availability of all billing, agreements and documentation. How easily accessible is every document related to every vendor? How updated is the information? How efficient is the management process? Do you feel any time is wasted in finding, organizing, interpreting and optimizing? Is billing fair? Are there any errors in billing, oversights, overcharges or invoices for services not even rendered? How often is all vendor related information from billing to contracts evaluated? Rated? What about the quality of the service … Is quality being accessed?

Vendor management is more than getting the lowest price. Most often the lowest price also brings the lowest quality. As the saying goes: “you get what you pay for”. Be careful not to short-change the vendor by trading off quality as this could have a profound impact on your own business. The key is for BOTH SIDES to align on what constitutes as quality and a good value. You and your vendors should be willing to negotiate a fair price while receiving the expected quality. If the vendor is serious about the quality they deliver, they won’t have a problem specifying the quality details in the contract.

Because vendor management inherently means dealing with a great deal of third party businesses, services and providers, it would be ridiculous to assume that one solid strategy will never need tweaking, reviewing and changes as time goes by. Vendors change their prices from time to time and in order to ensure you get the best deal, it’s important to keep an eye on any new pricing, billing or contract changes that could either benefit or hurt your business.

Reevaluating vendors is an essential part to ensuring the “best for the best”. Every time you reevaluate, you’ll find changes – be it somewhere you can save money, somewhere you can optimize efficiency and performance, somewhere you can spend less resources and so on. For these reasons, it’s important to deal with a vendor management service that is always thinking about what to do next…

LIMITLESS offers a fully managed solution to ensure you are “paying for what you are receiving”. Ensuring contract terms are met as well as compliance standards. Tracking any potential risks, optimizing your billing and managing all contract and agreements in one central software solution.

Outsourcing vendor management to a third party will also help standardize processes; and consistency helps enable the transparency essential to effective governance. This helps to alleviate flawed data, and costly mistakes.

Our software will not only house every contract, service agreement, warranty or renewal agreement, but we also manage negotiations for better rates and terms saving your business from unnecessary fees and costs while maintaining quality standards. If you have questions regarding how to manage vendor contracts/agreements or would like more information regarding our fully managed vendor management solution contact LIMITLESS at (866) 504-4050.

RESOURCE: https://seniorcare.levinassociates.com/2018/06/15/cash-is-king-for-skilled-nursing-targets/

Recently, an article was placed by The Senior Care investor which read:

“When buyers value a skilled nursing facilities, or any senior living property, it is always the absolute level of cash flow (NOI) that matters, not the operating margin or expense ratio. Buyers are purchasing a stream of net cash flow, and that net cash flow is going to provide the returns to capital providers. As long as cap rates remain stable, which they certainly have in the skilled nursing sector, when cash flow increases, the prices paid increase.”

From 2008 to 2015, the average cash flow per bed of SNFs sold increased by 63% (peaking in 2015 at $9,600 per bed), and this was driving the five straight years of record average prices for skilled nursing facilities, according to the 23rd Edition of The Senior Care Acquisition Report https://products.levinassociates.com/downloads/scar23/ . Although there was a small dip from 2015 to 2016 to $8,800 per bed, just as the average price per bed peaked in 2016, the simple average does not always tell the story. In 2017, there was a very small decrease in the average NOI per bed for SNFs sold (a 3% drop to $8,500 per bed), but the average price per bed plunged by 18%.

The reason is that when we recalculated the statistics on a weighted average basis, the NOI per bed sold dropped from $12,100 in 2016 to $9,450 in 2017, representing a nearly 22% decline. This clearly explains the 18% drop in average prices, given average cap rates were almost identical in both years. The $12,100 figure also explains why the average price per bed peaked in 2016.”

For illustration purposes, for every $50,000 that drops to the bottom line, applying a 13-14% cap rate could potentially equate into $350-380k in additional value to the portfolio.

So, if “cash is king” then, having the highest profitability and least amount of operating expense ratios is imperative to the true “total success” or evaluation of a property, ownership and management. Taking these facts into consideration, everything possible should be done to drive costs out of your business (without sacrificing great service deliverables) with your vendors. Problem is…most people do not understand or believe this is possible. The internal thought is…

• “we couldn’t be being that much overcharged by our vendors”
• “you pay for what you get”
• “my people have that covered”
• “we have that covered”
• “I don’t want my service to go down because I am paying less”

These “big misses and paradigms” must shift in order to have the best operation, and most profitable entity.

While this issue remains for many companies, smart companies ARE getting ahead of this problem by finding a partner with the tools and expertise to manage the devil in their details as it relates to local, regional even national service relate costs. A partner they can trust, that will do the benchmark analysis on every single vendor, actively renegotiate for lower pricing and better T&Cs, ensure bills get paid on time and services aren’t shut off, and ultimately resulting in elimination of fat and more strategic use of budgets without losing strong deliverables from vendors.

This IS what our team at LIMITLESS does All Day and Every Day. We take this burden off of your people – so they can focus on the bigger problems at hand. We partner with each member of your team so they feel confident they can maintain the overall control, won’t lose the vendor relationships they value but, WILL gain the critical support they need to make better decisions. The support we provide allows your team to focus on the important work of ensuring occupancy rates, delivering exceptional resident experiences, and grow their business and market shares.

Don’t hesitate to stop the waste, and increase your profits now…and when it comes time to sell.

Contact LIMITLESS today for a FREE CONSULTATION to discover how to get control of your unmanaged spend and reduce expenses in your business.

Other Ways to Connect with Us.

Request more info: http://limitlesstechnology.com/contact-us/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/limitlesstech
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/limitless-technology

A recent example from one of our assisted living facilities with over 16 locations to manage …

“I have no idea what that past due of $260.62 is. And I truly do appreciate all that you have done. As far as the phone bills that they credited us back on, are they issuing us a check for these amounts?”

“Yes, thank you Shan. This is all so confusing. We appreciate that you understand all this stuff!”

It’s not just understanding billing, businesses can try to sort out the fees, charges, taxes and discounts (if any) and match with contractual agreements but the true challenge is finding the TIME. Organization(s) are using their valuable resources to sort out billing on a monthly basis. What is that costing? Once discrepancies are found the same resources are removed from other task(s) to HUNT down the appropriate representative to research the error, make adjustments and refund the credits. AND with the absence of alerts for future billing variances and errors the same cycle continues MONTH over MONTH.

Want to know more about the right tools and expert resources to #OPTIMIZE your BILLING?

With a Vendor Management Solution contract experts can negotiate a fixed rate for a particular service. The contract terms must be met ensuring that both parties are aware of what is expected and any variances will be flagged and the vendor will be held accountable for any charges and changes outside of the agreed terms.

If you have questions about any of our VMS benefits contact us today at 866-504-4050 to learn more about our Vendor Management Solutions