While working with our clients applying the Sustainable Cost & Carbon Reduction (SCORE) methodology, we often see an imbalance between savings ambitions and the organisational capabilities. By balancing the expectations of savings generation, with parallel capability building, clients can increase the likelihood to generate more savings faster.
Balanced cost & carbon reduction programs deliver more, than short-term squeeze activities.
Vision, Understanding, Collaboration and Agility keep your program on track.
Evaluate Design-to-Cost, Design-to-Value and Design-for-Sustainability as methods.
Our post pandemic world has left us in a new state of multiple crises. We started to understand how interconnected the global economy is and how fragile our global supply chains actually are. For business leaders, this means to protect business continuity while finding ways to change the business towards the requirements of operating within planetary boundaries.
To secure cash as the lifeblood of the business in volatile times, most businesses have called for ambitious savings programs. While they have been triggered to generate additional cost savings, they need to consider the reduction of carbon at the same time to achieve public net zero commitments.
As a business, it can be difficult to balance ambition and capability when it comes to cost and carbon reduction. In our work with multi-national businesses of all sizes, we have seen time and again, that it requires a good balance between the savings ambition and the capabilities to deliver them. The key is to be realistic about the expected level of savings delivery, the required time and the capabilities to get there.
4 key pillars to frame a cost & carbon reduction program in volatile times:
- Vision: Defining a clear vision for the cost & carbon reduction program. Short-term cost squeezes helps investors, but carry the risk of destroying important relationships in the value chain. Cost & carbon reduction should always be addressed at the same time.
- Understanding: Going beyond the label of often fuzzy concepts and agreeing how they can support the pursuit of achieving cost & carbon objectives. Examples: Design-to-Cost, Design-to-Value and Design-for-Sustainability.
- Collaboration: Establishing a well functioning cross-functional (XF) team to jointly identify, evaluate and deliver savings. This is not a one-off exercise, but should become a capability.
- Agility: The organisational agility to commit people, data and tracking mechanisms to secure ongoing filling of a savings pipeline and implementation.

If you wish to save both money and the planet, then our cost & carbon reduction solution SCORE is the perfect fit for you. With SCORE we will identify ways in which your ambitions can be met with realistic capabilities. Take this opportunity now – let us help you to achieve bigger savings sooner!
With creativity and innovation, we can balance short-term needs with long-term prosperity.
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We are looking forward to start re-thinking progress with you – and finding the right solution to re-think your operating system.
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