How to counter rising G&A costs when time is of the essence

Ballooning G&A costs are a frequent consequence of multi-period business growth, where large, inflexible overhead structures can evolve. When the economic winds change direction – as we have seen in the past 12-18 months – this rigidity or inability to scale can quickly ramp up the pressures driven by rising costs and other inflationary impacts. 

Business leaders need insight and tangible results fast. They need to optimize G&A functional performance and efficiency in a way that creates a competitive advantage that is both sustainable for the long term and can quickly address a variety of immediate business drivers. Needs can range from reviving stalled transformation efforts to enhancing post-acquisition integrations and, ultimately, accelerating EBITDA improvement. 

One of the first steps we encourage our clients to take is to gain a holistic overview of performance across multiple G&A functions as quickly as they can, including Finance, IT, and Human Resources. This provides a vantage point to highlight where “hotspots” of inefficiency exist and to point to potential quick wins to defend and enhance margins without damaging business performance.

In our typical QuickStrike® process, non- or low-value-added activities may be identified, which could be halted altogether. In addition, simplifying organizational structures and/or processes could drive greater efficiency, aided by potential outsourcing of transactional activity. The ability to standardize or automate recurring tasks, or to develop self-service functionality can further define a future-proofed state of streamlined operations.  

Time, however, is the biggest constraint in this scenario. We know that business leaders do not have enough of this precious commodity for a deep and exhaustive G&A analysis or for resource-intensive benchmarking studies.  They need directional answers quickly.

This is why we have developed a Rapid G&A Diagnostic that leverages our deep functional and industry experience to highlight hotspots for improvement opportunities in just 5-10 business days.

This approach has helped large, multi-billion-dollar clients accelerate the identification of up to 20% savings within G&A functions, enabling them to stay ahead of the curve and lock into a faster path on their journey toward improved performance.

Find out more about our approach below.