Busy bee invoicing review5/11/2023 She discovered that they had 49 business accounts across the UK paying for 49 lots of Amazon Prime, and 250 nurseries purchasing from it. Keelie decided that this fitted well with the plan to streamline buying. The expectation was that each nursery would use the new purchasing method as they rebranded.īy coincidence, Amazon Business contacted Busy Bees about opening a business account, given that the nurseries were already buying from Amazon. The new look kick-started the drive for procurement also to come in line and ensure all resources matched the rebrand. The timing also coincided nicely with a business rebrand which saw the 30-year-old logo of ‘Busy Bees’ “hang up its wings” and make way for a new bee, Buzz. This was achieved with the help of the in-house Accounts department and the Creative team. What Busy Bees really wanted to do was create a ‘Resource Hub’ where the nurseries could log in to one website, click on an item, and purchase in one place. “But I naively thought at the time,” said Keelie, “that we could use one supplier to provide all the resources we needed – I quickly realised if we want quality, value and service, then that wasn’t going to be the case.” After researching all nursery needs, Keelie consolidated those 300 suppliers into a list of 12, supplying the likes of furniture, toiletries, staff uniforms, stationery and so on. Initially Busy Bees decided to create a list of resources from which the nurseries could purchase. Not least was this incurring a lot of back-office work, it was very challenging to make sure that all resultant invoices were being processed efficiently. As we are very sensitive about delivering excellence, especially in our catering and fresh food procurement, we decided it was time to look more closely at streamlining our purchasing and supply.”Īt closer scrutiny Busy Bees uncovered a list of over 300 suppliers nestled in its accounting system. “Growth has been immeasurable in the past 10 years,” she says, “but as we have acquired either single nurseries or groups, we have bolted them onto our system rather than creating a holistic view of how we procure. She began by using Amazon Business as a solution for ad hoc and maverick buying behaviour. She decided that they needed to focus more intently on how the nurseries procure, and to find a solution that would rationalise that operation. ![]() Keelie Leahy, was part of that beginning, having spent two decades with the firm in roles from Nursery Manager to Operations Manager to Regional then Divisional Director, and now Director of Innovation. The past 10 years have seen particularly rapid expansion, and the organisation has begun a journey to transform its procurement function into a streamlined, more efficient process that would meet the business’ three core principles of service, value and quality. ![]() For 35 years, since its start-up nursery in Lichfield, Staffordshire, it has been expanding steadily while preserving the standards on which it was founded, quality care and a child-centred approach. Busy Bees Childcare is the largest provider of childcare services in the UK and Ireland, with 375 centres in operation, and a growing presence across the globe, including Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Australia, China, Italy and Vietnam.
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