Having used the eRFX tender service to pre-qualify and establish a supplier base of five mobile telephony providers, the company requested the suppliers to pre-enter their bids into the eAuction based on the products and service that the incumbent supplier provided. These included split personal bills and centrally billed accounts. The company analysed this data from an 80/20 perspective, creating a much more practical set of numbers to work with. It was unfeasible to feature all the call tariffs in the eAuction, so the percentage achieved in auction was applied pro-rata where necessary.

The eRFX prequalification process saved the company a substantial amount of time and resource. The existing mobile telephony contact was worth in excess of £750,000. The eAuction resulted in a best bid of £530,000, constituting an enormous saving of nearly a third of the contract value. Tim Hoiles, Operations Director, Trade Interchange commented, “We have helped several businesses improve efficiency and find better telecoms deals. Another customer, also using our eRFX and eAuctions products, saved almost 17% in a similar process, beating their desired 3% saving by a considerable margin.

“This clearly illustrates the significant cost savings that are available within the telecoms and mobile telephony market, and demonstrates the procurement power of the Trade Interchange systems.”