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News Archive November 2006 Symbia saves millions for Transport for London
TfL is subject to the Local Government Act 1999, and is therefore required to demonstrate Best Value in its service delivery through the application of the four C’s (compare, consult, challenge and compete). Its Best Value programme complements the Mayoral principal that, “…all resources used for transport must provide good value for stakeholders including transport users, London’s residents, businesses, and taxpayers.” The review delivered a comprehensive Baseline Report supported by an extensive Benchmarking Report. A long-list of delivery model options was reviewed and shortened and the shortlist comprehensively evaluated using multiple criteria analysis. Sensitivity tests where conducted on the evaluation scores to understand the robustness of the final outcome. A final Options Evaluation and Recommendation Report revealed that best value would be achieved if the operation remained delivered by TfL, but that a number of recommendations should also be implemented in order to maintain or improve the operations efficiency, economy and effectiveness. Thereafter, Symbia was retained to project manage the deliver of these Best Value recommendations. This too has been very successful, delivering effectiveness and efficiency gains, reducing major project delivery risk, developing a balanced performance framework, and realising financial savings (in excess of £5m over the next 3 years). October 31st 2006 Scottish Executive Conference & Exhibition at the SECC To support the recent opening of our Edinburgh office and success on being placed on the Scottish Executive Procurement Support Services Framework, Symbia exhibited at the Scottish Executive Annual Conference on 31 October, held at SECC, Glasgow. The publication of the McClelland Report, new legislation and the need to support the efficient government agenda mean that the environment in which public sector procurement staff operate is increasingly a complex and demanding one. While purchasers and managers face many new challenges, there are also significant new opportunities to work together to contribute to a smarter, more successful Scotland.
July 17th 2006 Discussion & Dinner: How to capture untapped value in your supply chain Professor Richard Wilding, a well-known presenter, researcher and author in the field of Supply Chain Management was our speaker at our last discussion and dinner event. Richard makes regular contributions to Supply Chain thinking through journals, press articles and more recently through a series of Supply Chain Podcasts (www.supplychainpodcast.info). Richard’s special areas of interest include the creation of collaborative business environments, aligning supply chains to maximise customer value and supply chain risk management.
Richard spoke on the topic of “Supply Chain Collaboration” and how leading organisations harness the resources and talents within their supply chain to increase innovation and reduce total supply chain costs. The event was designed to allow participants time for questions and then further discussion over dinner.
May 8th 2006: New Edinburgh Office Symbia Ltd, has today announced the opening of their new office in Edinburgh. Symbia has opened this office as part of its ongoing plans to expand its network of offices throughout the UK. The Edinburgh office will provide support to the growing number of customers across Scotland.
May 2006: Symbia achieves 'ISO 9001:2000' accreditation for Quality Management As part of our strategy for company development and to maintain the highest standards of quality, the company is delighted to have achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification. The internationally accepted standard required Symbia to demonstrate to independent accreditors that its business and technical systems meet a set of stringent ISO standards. Initiated by Director of Quality, Peter Jenkins, Symbia implemented a continuing schedule of internal audits to assess both its quality management system and the processes used within the company to ensure that they are effective. Symbia was supported throughout this period by a consultant from Systems Assurance Ltd. Following this phase, an independent certification organisation was invited to carry out an external audit. ISOQAR carried this out in April this year and recommended Symbia for ISO 9001:2000 certification. Jim Humphris, Chairman and founding Director said: “Since our foundation we have always delivered quality work and stressed our commitment to quality with all our team; achieving ISO 9001 certification is a formal recognition of that commitment. We are proud of the quality of service we provide to our clients and we will continue to strive for the very highest standards.” Founding Director , Peter Jenkins added: “This shows the progress we are making as a company and demonstrates to clients our commitment to quality. Justine Fletcher did a great job in leading this successful initiative and I am delighted at how everyone in Symbia worked towards helping us to achieve such a tremendous result.”
March 2006: Dr James Rieley speaks on “Leadership during a Period of Change” On the 23rd March Symbia invited 30 senior business leaders, clients and friends of the firm to a discussion and dinner at The Commonwealth Club in London. Dr Rieley spoke on the topic of “Leadership during a Period of Change” and then took questions. There was a very lively debate which continued for 2 hours over dinner. Our guests were both shocked and amused to discover that they were not alone in many of the leadership issues they face. In one particular exercise participants had to assess how they and their people spend time and prioritise issues. The results showed a near universal belief that time was poorly spent on the wrong issues. This was across a wide range of organisations, both public and private. Dr Rieley is a well known business author and uniquely qualified to talk on the topic of leadership having been a consultant to many Fortune 500 organisations and the CEO of a manufacturing business in the US for many years. His latest books “Leadership” and “Strategy & Performance” have just been released in partnership with the Daily Telegraph and follow on from his very successful weekly column in the Daily Telegragh business section. Symbia is delighted that Dr Rieley will be adding his considerable capability to our Leadership Development practice. January 2006: Symbia supports Procurement in Action On the 24th January, Symbia sponsored a stand at the Government Procurement in Action Conference held in the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel. The conference was very well attended, with hundreds of procurement professionals from across the public sector in attending to hear a variety of expert speakers presenting on current issues and trends in government procurement.
November 2005: Symbia’s Criminal Justice Team making an IMPACT The Criminal Justice team in Symbia has been awarded a contract to assist the Home Office IMPACT programme in identifying new Information Sources. This comes on the heels of some excellent work carried out in the National Offender Management System (NOMS) team. We have also won a contract with the Home Office Police Standards Unit to carry out a review into community safety accreditation schemes and to provide an implementation guide for accreditation schemes. . November 2005: Procurement’s not shopping! It’s increasingly said that procurement is about supply management, not shopping. But what does that really mean? On 6th December, Symbia sponsored two sessions at The 2nd Annual Efficiency Delivery Conference - Putting Policy into Practice. This session set aside the jargon and looked at the issues involved when an organisation pursues efficiencies through procurement-led initiatives. We asked how public sector procurement can shed its role as an administrative function dealing with the letting of contracts. And we looked at the practical issues which arise when procurement seeks to work in teams with colleagues across the organisation.
Symbia Managing Consultant Adam Lazarus argued that that only by addressing all three elements - people, processes and systems - can the necessary step change be achieved, and then only with the full backing of senior managers. John Dodd, Commercial Director for the Home Office and Paul Jackson, Head of Efficiency at Hull City Council joined Adam on the panel, providing an insight into real-life strategic procurement at central and local government level. If you would like to understand how Symbia can help enhance your procurement activities, please feel contact Mike Nayler - mnayler@symbia.com. September 2005: Top Consultant interview Top Consultant interviews Symbia's Chairman, Jim Humphris, for a feature article on approaches to succession and growth issues in medium sized consultancies.The full article can be downloaded here. September 2005: Symbia Sponsors ACPO Excellence in Policing Performance Conference Symbia Police Sector consultants attended this years’ ACPO Excellence in Policing Performance Conference. The two-day event was attended by over 300 senior police personnel and covered themes such as: Performance Improvement, Activity Based Costing, Local Accountability, Neighbourhood Policing and Workforce Modernisation. These are all areas in which Symbia provides support. During breakout sessions, Symbia consultants worked with those involved in managing efficiency, improving quality and increasing effectiveness for the Police Service. To find out more about Symbia’s services for the Police Service, please contact cnankoo@symbia.com September 2005: Symbia completes project management courses for the Department of Health August 2005: ProCure21 NHS Construction Programme Evaluation
July 2005: Symbia publishes article in Quality World Symbia’s clients at Metronet and Tube Lines reveal for the 1st time, through an in-depth feature in this month’s Quality World, the unique role Symbia play in helping these consortia organizations to work effectively with London Underground. Download the article (pdf format) or please contact us for a copy as published in ‘Quality World’. June 2005: Adam Lazarus speaks at GCExpo 2005 on the Gershon Agenda Sir Peter Gershon's independent review into public sector efficiency, "Releasing Resources to the Front Line", has become one of the major drivers for efficiency improvements across local and central government. Gershon represents a dramatic challenge for the public sector. The explicit focus on efficiency gains and productivity improvements, particularly in the procurement area, is in marked contrast to the familiar regimes of CCT, Best Value and CPA, where qualitative assessments often determine success/failure. Gershon sets real challenges to local authorities to achieve procurement based efficiencies in a relatively short timeframe. Government has responded in a variety of ways and with different degrees of commitment. In response to this, Adam tackled the question, “So why might many fail to deliver?” More importantly, Adam set out some ways to avoid these pitfalls and highlighted some best practice examples of achieving good results. A copy of the slide set from this presentation is available here. If you would like more information or were unable to get into the presentation due to its popularity, please contact us and we would be happy to arrange for Adam or one of our other procurement specialists to visit you. June 2005: Symbia publishes article in Policing Today on ‘Managing Demand’ Symbia’s Neil Barrett is one of the UK’s leading experts in the difficult task of matching police resources to changing levels of public demand. His expertise in this field is reflected in an article by him being published in the forthcoming edition of ‘Policing Today’. The article highlights the key issues facing police forces in delivering an excellent service within significantly constrained resources. When they contact the police, people expect a fast response and their experience is critical in setting their views of the service. So a police force that focuses on serving its citizens must have a good system for responding to varying levels of demand - often peaking on a Saturday night! Symbia’s considerable experience helps deliver pragmatic solutions in demand management, from call handling to dispatch. Download the article (pdf format) or please email us for a copy as published in ‘Policing Today’. For more information on any of the above, please contact us. April 2005: Symbia awarded framework by TfL for Business and Management Consultancy Services February 2005: Symbia celebrates 10 successful years We were delighted to host many clients and friends; especially those from our very first clients - Barclays Bank and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. The hardest thing for a start-up company to do is to secure those first few assignments and to build a track record of success - the trust they placed in Symbia at that time took courage and we are grateful for that vote of confidence and their recommendation to others. Many of Symbia's current clients were also there, including London Underground, Metronet Rail, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. Everyone who was there had the chance to appreciate the building and its ancient livery, as well as to mingle and share experiences, and above all, to thoroughly enjoy the evening.
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