...Control Costs In The Future
The Facilities Collective is backed and chaired by Bursars
Today sees the launch of a new initiative aimed at independent schools and academies across the UK which will revolutionise the way that education establishments manage their spending now and in future years. The brainchild of F&B technology specialist Caternet, The Facilities Collective (
www.facilitiescollective.com) helps independent schools to benefit collectively from their significant purchasing power by helping them to join forces as one united community. In doing so, they will benefit from reduced school overheads facilitated by greater powers of negotiation in driving down supplier costs. Schools will also use online paperless eProcurement and budgeting software from Caternet to control their decentralised communities and spending levels.
The Collective will use technology and purchasing management services from Caternet to supply schools with their prices for admin, academic, estates, IT, power and so on. The power of joining every school’s collective purchasing will mean that all schools, regardless of size, denomination or style, can benefit from sustainable reductions in supply chain costs.
Edward Valletta, Bursar of Kimbolton School, who is also the first Chairman Bursar of the Collective said; ‘When Jerry Brand at Caternet asked me to be Chairman of the Collective, it was a no-brainer. There are already other schools using the Caternet technology to manage their catering costs, but many of them are also keen to regain control of costs related to other purchases the school makes on a regular basis outside of catering – that’s where the Collective comes into its own.”
Caternet, as the technology driver has a commitment to delivering the innovation behind this initiative. Jerry Brand MD at Caternet explains: “Our suite of online facilities management software is the end result of over 25 years in the education sector. The Facilities Collective is the final piece of the jigsaw, and I can really see something unique happening here.”
Controlling overhead costs in a decentralised community is something of an ongoing battle for many schools today. Something that Bursar, Edward Valletta was previously no stranger to. He explains: “Kimbolton School has been busy working with Caternet for a number of years now, initially this was centred around getting our catering admin and pricing online, controlling the school’s catering costs and reducing the amount of time we spend shuffling paper but now it has evolved into something much bigger; a new technological dimension that will create the first UK independent school’s online Facilities Collective.”
There are six Founding Partner Schools committed to working with Caternet at present to help them model the software to the unique needs of schools. The target is to bring in twenty Founding Partners for the launch in January 2014, in return for which Caternet is offering 50% reduction in licence fees for the first three years.
The Facilities Collective officially launches in January 2014.
