Background
Established in 2018, Procurement Solutions Group Limited (PSG) partners with companies in multiple sectors. It specialises in procurement solutions that help organisations to reduce costs, increase profits and achieve other business gains. “During my career I have delivered more than £100 million in cost savings,” says Gurvinder Patara, founder and managing director of PSG, which includes the ‘Purchasing for Parks’ and ‘Purchasing for Business’ brands. “We negotiate contracts in multiple spend categories, working across corporate, hospitality, leisure and other sectors. We maintain strong partnerships with national and international providers to deliver the best choice and value to our clients, which includes working with Assured Energy.”
Challenges
PSG clients include hotels, holiday parks, resorts and attractions, restaurants, pubs, takeaways, care homes, petrol stations, factories and warehouses. “I worked in a corporate environment for 20 years, as VP of procurement for one of the world’s biggest hospitality companies,” Gurvinder says. “In that role I’d worked with an energy broker for over 10 years. I founded PSG in 2018 and started procuring a wide range of products and services for my clients.
“We’re in the business of adding value to our clients, whether that means providing high quality beds, guest facilities, TVs, IT and telecoms, cleaning and janitorial services, waste management, card payment services, or energy.
Our aim is to ensure clients receive the best quality, service and price. I did some research and became aware of Assured Energy. I was cautious as brokers don’t have the best reputation but we’ve built a great partnership with our account manager.”
He says PSG’s client relationships are driven on a high degree of trust. “We’ve spent years building relationships. Clients trust us, so we need be confident that the services we’re using from a third-party source are high quality. Our clients are constantly bombarded by information from energy brokers and others, there’s a lot of noise out there.
It’s important we work with the best, as our clients know they can use PSG as a trusted one-stop-shop for whatever they need, including the reliable low-cost energy we source through Assured Energy.”
Solution
Gurvinder continues, “We put the groundwork in with our clients and get Assured Energy involved for their specialist skills, then PSG manages the process. When we talk to Assured, we’ve already discussed issues with a client and they are receptive to the idea of reviewing their energy.
In the first year of working with Assured we generated leads from 31 clients of which 25 converted into energy
procurement deals: 81%. These leads are strong as PSG has already done the due diligence.
“Assured Energy does send information on energy markets and how they are performing, and we know the markets ourselves as well as client requirements, so we provide clients with the high-level summary they need of their options, pricing, next steps and so on.”
PSG has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Assured Energy. “We’re working together with the right degree of metrics, deadlines, ownership and accountability. As PSG, we maintain the constant focus on our clients, understanding their business and what they need. We hold Assured to a very high standard: the standard our own clients hold us to. Many clients have multiple businesses so once we’ve managed the utilities for one of their businesses we than target their other businesses which has proved a successful strategy.”
Outcomes
Gurvinder adds, “Working with Assured has delivered big savings for our clients. And we make the process as easy and seamless as possible. Energy can be a complex area, so our job is to simplify that whole process. This is a very competitive marketplace and we’ve developed the right strategy, levels of responsiveness and professionalism. Everything we do is highly analytical in terms of understanding and meeting client requirements. “I think Assured Energy is also learning from PSG, changing its own processes to enable us work even more closely together. They clearly see the value of working with PSG. It’s my passion to continue delivering significant procurement and commercial benefits to help my clients to maximise cost reductions and help increase their profits, particularly in the hotel, holiday, glamping, theme and attraction park markets.” Assured Energy is helping PSG to achieve that in terms of energy.
“Our clients know they can use PSG as a trusted one-stop shop for whatever they need, including the reliable lowcost energy we source through Assured Energy.”