Multi-cultural comms

The challenge

Birmingham City Council is one of the largest Local Authorities in Europe. Pressure on budgets meant finding a strategic partner to provide a fully managed end-to-end print service who could also support the transition to digital communications. Minimum guaranteed savings of 15% were targeted.

The solution

CDS was appointed to manage the marketing and communications print spend for Birmingham City Council under the Crown Commercial Service Wider Public Sector Print Services agreement (RM1687).

Our bespoke browser-based Print Portal application is used to manage the council’s end-to-end requirements. Print Portal also provides an electronic workflow to streamline production, detailed management information on savings/service performance and support for electronic invoicing.

The result

In the first 13 months of the contract, the partnership between Birmingham City Council and CDS delivered savings of 57% against the annual budget. In year two, we delivered additional savings of 33% against year one spend – a combined saving of over £1.7M over two years.

In line with the Council’s Business Charter for Social Responsibility, CDS delivers 100% of BCC’s print via suppliers sourced within 30 miles of the Birmingham Council Town Hall, keeping council spend in the local community.