Outsourcing
The recent trend towards companies outsourcing their Business Information Services
means that we have to adapt to the changing demands of our clients.
The Prenax Outsourcing Service (POS) was launched in 2002 to meet these changing
needs within the corporate sector. Many companies wanted to wholly outsource their
internal library function to Prenax but they also wanted to maintain their direct
relationships and discounts with key publishers. Many of these publishers had
previously refused to work with agents, especially where site-licenses or online
journals were concerned; and so we had to create a new way of working together.
The service:
We process all orders: the difference is that the orders will be
priced at the Prenax negotiated publisher rate or your negotiated publisher rate -
whichever is the lowest. Potential bulk deals are identified, negotiated and aligned
to have common end dates.
We manage all invoices: we will check all publisher invoices for
accuracy against purchase orders, and ensure that cost centre allocation is correctly
calculated.
We process all claims: these may be online access issues or other
technical difficulties, as well as typical print-related issues.
We process all renewals: most organisations have renewal dates
spread right throughout the year, with bulk deal contracts having a common renewal
date. These contracts may be global, with the price dependent on the number of users.
We provide online management reports: as well as Prenax managing
the administration of these contracts the client also has the advantage of accurate
reporting through Prenax Online. All users and costs will be listed which will be
visible and elucidates opportunities for the negotiation of group rates.
The difference with POS is that a three-way communication between the client, the
publisher and Prenax is opened up. Each publisher and client has a slightly different
way of working, but with POS, Prenax finds the most efficient way of working together,
ensuring the continued smooth running of all contracts.
Prenax can be present at the negotiation of the contract, if required, but the client
retains the discount. We recommend regular update meetings during the initial take
over of these contracts to ensure that the working procedures are continually reviewed.
Before work can commence, a letter of authority must be signed. This will allow
Prenax to discuss your existing accounts with the publishers and all usage and
financial information in the contract.
Pricing for this service may be based upon usage, a proportion of turnover, a flat
fee or a combination of the above.
Insourcing
It is difficult to predict how many permanent staff you need to manage your
organisation’s subscriptions. In investment banks, for example, expenditure and
new requests are closely linked to the strength of the financial markets, but
are also very seasonal in nature. Therefore the challenge for modern BIS departments
is to retain both the talent to manage complex contracts and demanding internal
customer demands, whilst at the same time have the flexibility to keep permanent
headcount as low as possible.
The answer is insourcing – a similar model to outsourcing, but having a dedicated
resource from Prenax working on-site at the client. Peaks in workload are absorbed
by the Prenax office-based staff. The benefits of this model are:
- Costs remain variable and therefore flexible enough to be quickly adapted to
changing market conditions
- All the publisher and supplier relationships, including specially-negotiated
site licenses and bulk deals, are handled by Prenax
- We work within the client’s operation and therefore understand exactly what
is required in order to satisfy internal clients
- Prenax’s publisher relationships are utilised by the client, and
- All expenditure across the whole of the client’s organisation can be
controlled through one source – providing opportunities for cost-control and
excellent management information provision.
|
