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AP Benson helps provider of skips and recycling services to achieve business objectives

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0100

As part of the Waste & Resource Action Programme, WRAP, scheme AP Benson has been assisting a provider of skips and recycling services to achieve its strategic goals.

The Waste & Resource Action Programme, WRAP, is a not-for-profit company created in 2000 as part of DEFRA's (the UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) waste strategies. The work has involved the integration of separate business units in order to deliver consolidation synergies leveraging key resources including capital, people and plant to generate real efficiency gains. Strategic and financial modelling was used in order to identify potential returns from alternative investment scenarios and to forecast realistic levels of capital expenditures.

Our report included:

A thorough investigation of the business to ensure that all of the issues including the viable opportunities and merger synergies had been identified
The development of financial and strategic models to ascertain the financial position of the business as a basis for future growth, investment and expansion
The development of a business strategy and a plan for realising this strategy
Scenario planning using financial models to assess the impact of different pricing strategies, waste stream capture strategies and revenue opportunities etc
Areas for capital investment with financing options

By going through the steps above we were able to conclude on a strategy and provide outline recommendations including management structures to be adopted, phasing of investment and financing.

AP Benson is a management and economic development consultancy with offices around the country including the West Midlands, London, Cardiff and the Thames Valley. Since the company's formation it has provided services to the public and private sector in a range of fields including financial consultancy, project evaluation, business strategy, business development and IT Transformation

Alex McLaren, Consultant and Business Development

AP Benson conducts feasibility study to help agricultural products merchant identify new business opportunities

Wed, 26 May 2010 00:00:00 +0100

As part of the Waste & Resource Action Programme, WRAP, scheme AP Benson has been helping an agricultural products merchant to identify new opportunities for its business.

The Waste & Resource Action Programme, WRAP, is a not-for-profit company created in 2000 as part of DEFRA's (the UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) waste strategies.

The client was looking to expand into commercial and industrial plastics recycling service providing a service to manufacturing firms in the east of England. To help the company formulate its strategy, AP Benson conducted a feasibility study to identify the volume and profile of plastic polymers in the target region.

Our report:

Identified key C&I waste producers in the industrial and manufacturing industries
Established potential recycling requirements and waste streams that could be addressed and potential feedstock volumes.
Identified competitor offerings, market share, business models and pricing, market strategies and their financial performance
Reviewed market research to analyse local waste market size
Used the data gathered from the above exercises to provide an outline forecast market share and sales volumes
Completed limited interviews with key feedstock suppliers
Completed interviews with current recycling plants.

This research forecast current and future waste volumes in the region and established the competitive model to enable the client to establish a differentiated offering to the target market. Surveys and interviews with prospects enabled the client to identify shortcomings in competitor services allowing it to address the market through a more innovative product.

AP Benson is a management and economic development consultancy with offices around the country including the West Midlands, London, Cardiff and the Thames Valley. Since the company's formation it has provided services to the public and private sector in a range of fields including feasibility studies, project evaluation, business strategy, business development and financial analysis.

Alex McLaren, Consultant and Business Development

AP Benson selected to deliver "Going-For-Growth" assistance to rural businesses in the West Midlands

Fri, 14 May 2010 00:00:00 +0100

AP Benson is delighted to announce that it has been selected by Business Link West Midlands Going for Growth scheme as one of the providers to give expert business mentoring to land based SMEs.

AP Benson is a business management consultancy group that has strong links in the West Midlands area, having delivered elements of both the Accelerate programme and the current Technology at Work programme.

Going for Growth offers help to businesses based in rural locations, particularly to farming and forestry clients and to any small business based in a rural location with less than 10 employees and less than €2m turnover.

AP Benson MD, Tom Girn said, "We are delighted to have been selected as we have a wealth of experience in the land based sector and we look forward to working with the Business Link team headed by David Ledbury and his land-based industry clients in the West Midlands."

As part of the business mentoring scheme, AP Benson will provide the following services:

Expert business analysis assessment and face to face mentoring skills in support of land based businesses and growth potential. The objective being to mentor the organisation's talent and the wider organisation, removing barriers and charting direction, to ensure growth potential is exploited and realised
Mentoring, over an agreed period with individual businesses, in order to support them to focus on the project they are seeking to develop

Business Link West Midlands provides advice and support to small businesses and this is available online and through local advisers. The Going for Growth support scheme specifically targets areas of market difficulty and helps businesses with common problems such as starting and growing a business, innovation, finance, skills and responding to market and environmental changes.

Alex McLaren, Consultant and Business Development

AP Benson welcomes Alexander McLaren to our consultancy and business development team

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0100

We are delighted to announce the addition of Alex McLaren to our team of management consultants. As well as providing consultancy services, Alex will also play a key role in the business development activities of AP Benson. Alex comes from a business development and systems engineering background having previously worked on business diversification strategies and defence engineering projects for a large Italian industrial firm based in the UK.

Before starting his career Alex graduated from Strathclyde University with an MSc in High Power RF Science and Engineering in 2006. Prior to that, Alex graduated from St Andrews University with a Physics degree in 2003.

AP Benson welcomes Callum Finlayson to its management consulting practice

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

AP Benson is pleased to welcome Callum Finlayson to its management consulting team.Callum brings over 10 years experience of working with leading technology and telecoms companies including projects for Virgin Media, Verizon and Three. In addition to these core areas of expertise Callum also has experience in biotech, fashion, manufacturing, and new media. Callum received an MBA from Imperial College in 2005, and previously graduated in astrophysics from University College London.

AP Benson selected to provide IT Transformation services as part of Business Link West Midland’s Technology at Work Service

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

AP Benson has been selected, as the result of a successful tender, to provide assistance to small and medium sized companies on strategic and related IT issues, business process improvement and business systems, as part of Business Link West Midlands's Technology at Work programme.

Business Link West Midlands is a not for profit organisation which provides impartial and expert information, support and advice to help businesses in the West Midlands to develop and become more successful.

AP Benson has significant experience of providing IT Transformation services to various public and private sector bodies including the Welsh Assembly Government, Financial Services Authority, Association of Train Operating Companies and the London Development Agency under a range of contracts since 2002.

AP Benson Director Craig Livingstone commented, "We are delighted to have been chosen to provide IT transformation services as part of the Technology at Work scheme. We feel our extensive experience of IT systems and strategies will prove invaluable to businesses as they look to survive and improve their fortunes in these tough economic times."

Alex McLaren, Consultant and Business Development

AP Benson appointment as WRAP delivery partner

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

AP Benson is delighted to announce that it has been selected as a contractor for the delivery of services to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

AP Benson has been appointed, as one of the delivery contractors, under the Business Development Service's Expert Advisors Framework to provide support to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK recycling and reprocessing sectors. AP Benson will assist firms in developing strong investment proposals and in identifying market opportunities and the best sources of capital. The overall aim is to increase investment in this sector.

The Waste & Resource Action Programme, WRAP, is a not-for-profit company created in 2000 as part of DEFRA's Defra (the UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) waste strategies.

WRAP's mission is to help develop markets for material resources that would otherwise have become waste. For example, WRAP's work seeks to improve the markets for recovered aggregates, glass, organics, paper, plastics, and wood.

WRAP also provides advisory services to local authorities and helps influence public behaviour through national level communication programmes.

It also works on Defra programmes to minimise waste generated by households.

AP Benson to provide IT Transformation Services to Welsh Assembly Government Client SMEs

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

AP Benson has been selected to provide a range of IT Transformation services to Welsh Assembly Government clients as a result of a recent tender process. Successful bidders will provide services to small and medium sized enterprises across the whole of Wales.

Services will be provided via the Welsh Assembly Government's Flexible Support for Business programme ("FS4B"). Businesses can also contact FS4B on 03000 6 03000.

AP Benson will be involved in delivering e-business support and ICT diagnostic services.

E-business support offers a range of assistance from defining and implementing ICT at a strategic level to assisting companies in the practical definition of business needs for ICT systems and the selection, procurement and implementation of ICT systems.

The ICT diagnostic service offers companies a rapid analysis of specific ICT needs and delivers a structured and easy to digest report offering guidance on procurement of the systems an SME business may need, including an outline specification.

AP Benson's Managing Director, Tom Girn, said "We're delighted to be working again with the Welsh Assembly Government. We've delivered services under previous programmes since 2002 with the former WDA and with the Welsh Assembly Government and we were pleased to be selected again under the recent E-business and ICT Diagnostics tender."

"AP Benson has assisted over 40 companies in Wales in selecting and implementing ICT solutions, ranging from simple office and finance systems upgrades to the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Professional Services Automation (PSA) and factory automation solutions."

"We're pleased to be able to help the Welsh Assembly Government assist their clients in moving on to the next stages of ICT deployment. This fits in well with our involvement in the development of Digitally Networked Businesses and the future vision of a connected Wales."

HCD Group Select Deltek Vision

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Implementation work began today on a new Professional Services Automation tool project at HCD Group in Cardiff.

AP Benson was engaged by HCD Group, initially under the SME-Business programme of the Welsh Assembly Government, to undertake a holistic review of ICT systems within the firm and to make recommendations for improvements. In particular, AP Benson reviewed the following:

The effectiveness of existing business management databases
The management of "fee-flow" in the firm
Mobile working
ICT support issues
Improving site reporting efficiency
Document management and archiving
ICT infrastructure

AP Benson undertook detailed reviews and interviews with senior and representative staff and made recommendations for improvements in all of these areas.

Based on this review, HCD chose to prioritise the improvement and integration of its business management systems. AP Benson worked to define the detailed needs of the business and used these to develop a procurement pack. We managed a semi-formal supplier selection and procurement exercise, working with potential suppliers to determine their ability to match the documented needs. With AP Benson's assistance, HCD group selected the Deltek Vision product and KPI Insight as implementation partners.

AP Benson has been retained to offer project support and guidance during the implementation period.

AP Benson Director, Craig Livingstone, said "Deltek Vision is a great choice for HCD. It will give staff members and management full visibility of the projects and jobs they are managing and will provide fee income forecasts replacing a cumbersome former system based on disparate databases and spreadsheets."

"HCD will achieve increased efficiency and have visibility of performance at project, client, surveyor and divisional levels will guide the development of the business."

"The project offers an exiting opportunity for HCD to develop its management practices around a single, unified ICT system."

Deploying Digitally Networked Businesses in the Welsh Social Housing Sector to deliver real benefits

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Working with the Welsh Assembly Government AP Benson has researched and developed a digital business ecosystem (DBE) in the Welsh social housing sector. The practical implementation of a DnB will lead to business processes changes that improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase productivity.

A DnB is a digital market place that is made up of a number of businesses, organisations, consumers and other entities that "do business" with each other. The DnB digitally links these stakeholders together so that the exchange of information, purchase and sale of goods and services and access to data becomes more efficient, cost effective and delivers collaborative and innovative benefits to the sector.

As part of the project AP Benson undertook a thorough investigation of the Welsh social housing Sector and identified key issues that could be addressed by setting up a DnB across the sector.

The analysis showed that a DnB would deliver real benefits in areas such as purchasing economies in both housing construction and maintenance, tenant services, allocation of accommodation and tenant interaction with housing associations. The DnB would crucially benefit the tenants by providing easier access to information and services.

AP Benson developed the DnB from a concept to a fully functioning deployment plan. The plan addressed:

Stakeholder groups within Welsh social housing identifying and recruiting a pilot group
Technical specifications for DnB deployment within and without stakeholder organisations
DnB management and operating structure
Costing and financial returns to all stakeholders. This included the development of a DnB business model
Implementation and launch planning
Wider benefit analysis

The DnB deployment plans has been used as a template for the development of other DnBs in Wales including the National Library of Wales and Welsh Community Radio.