Maverick was approached by a small international society that, along with many organisations of similar size, was encountering a decrease in revenue. They realised they needed to generate more revenue, attract new and younger members, lower costs, and bring their finances back into balance so they approached Maverick to conduct a financial and operational audit. The review focused on member services, conferences and proceedings, and journal production and hosting. The program was managed by a small in-house team that was working incredibly hard to maintain it.
GOALS
The society board commissioned Maverick to perform a root and branch review of how they undertake their core functions to help identify opportunities to grow revenue, save money, and use automation and outsourcing as a way of expanding capacity.
APPROACH
Maverick assembled a team of experts who are knowledgeable in how member organisations work and how publishing processes can be optimised. The Maverick team reviewed all areas of the business, including how its many sponsored meetings were run and how the proceedings were published. The team also looked at the society’s membership categories, reviewed the member benefits being offered, and developed a recruitment strategy. Finally, Maverick identified areas where the society would benefit from working with partners to enhance workflow efficiency and improve services and products.
OUTCOME
Maverick was able to produce a detailed review of the society’s operations that included a multi-phase action plan for delivering improvements incorporating a combination of modernising and outsourcing. It was important for the society that the action plan could be implemented and managed by a small staff team. Maverick is now working with them to support an RFP process for aspects of their operations.