I was fascinated to see that BT has reduced its roster of agencies to a mere 42.
While this is admittedly a shorter list than the 130 with which it started, I struggle to see what has been achieved for anyone. I would anticipate the cost to each agency involved as being a minimum of £3,000. Add to that the time spent by BT executives and we must easily be looking at a total hard cost of £500,000 let alone the opportunity cost of not carrying out other more fruitful work.
To do justice to the 42 places on the roster, I assume BT will continue to put almost all business out to tender to a minimum of three agencies each time, but probably more. With the average creative pitch costing around £10,000, a minimum of a further £20,000 per pitch will be wasted by the collective roster community.
All of this wasted money and resource could actually be put forward to better savings and results for BT. As we all know, the best work results from teamwork and knowledge built up over time. This entire approach shows a lack of respect to all the agencies involved. I would urge BT, and any other clients considering such a policy, to stop treating agencies as commodities and start developing a few meaningful relationships.
That approach will deliver them value way beyond any hypothetical savings that they believe they are currently achieving, and will save all the other agencies a huge amount of time and money.
May I also urge the 88 agencies not selected to consider an elongated tender for their telecoms services? There are a lot of companies to choose from these days.
