This month's interview:

Pierre Ferrer - UDA*

Cost House - What changes do you foresee in the marketing field and its various components?

PF - Companies still have difficulties defining the roles and responsibilities of their marketing organization. First, prerogatives of marketing and sales organizations must be clearly differentiated. Second, companies must separate marketing and communication functions. It is a 3 foot entity: sales, marketing and communication; it is great for stability but it can slow down the progression! [...]

Cost House - What was your motivation to support a reference Activity Based Costing model dedicated to marketing, sales and communication?

PF - UDA members always ask me what I think is the right price for various services used in communication and marketing campaigns. How much should I pay for a TV commercial, a page in a newspaper, the services of a singer, printing a booklet? This knowledge of standard costs for micro services helps to micro-manage purchasing activities. But I believe we lacked a more standardized, holistic approach of costs, which can help make strategic decisions. This is where Activity Based Costing and a marketing oriented model come in very handy. [...]

Interview by Hubert Teste, Director of Customer Relations Branch

* UDA is the French Federation of Advertisers, a founding member of the World Federation of Advertisers. UDA facilitates partnerships across the advertising industry and help its 250+ members champion time and cost-efficiency of their marketing investments.

To find out more about UDA : www.uda.fr

Complete interview:
www.cost-house.com/publications/read/interview-uda.html

Cost and Value of IT

Joachim Treyer, Partner, Director of IT Branch

IT organizations must continuously monitor and control costs. With this economy, CIO's are now facing tough decisions to trim services and projects. In this respect, IT organizations must now be looking at value as much as costs..

The importance of a dedicated costing model for IT

Cost House has worked with prominent CIO's from various industries to come up with a costing model which takes into account the specifics of IT organizations. The model uses Activity Based Costing and focuses on key IT processes and activities to make sure costs are allocated to the right services and projects[...]

Read complete paper:
www.cost-house.com/publications/read/cout-et-valeur-du-si

Invest to Cost

Olivier Brongniart, President and Founder, Cost House France

Optimizing capital investments is key to a company's global value. Capital expenditures have direct and long-lasting impact on P&L, balance sheet and key performance ratios such as ROIC (Return on Invested Capital). In addition, such investments contribute to a company's social and environmental legacy on matters like working conditions, energy savings or emission control.

Investment projects are usually managed as a succession of tasks carried out by independent actors. Such projects tend to run late and over budget. Without a strong grasp on time and cost, estimates by various contributors change constantly along the project cycle.

Cost House has developed a specific approach to avoid such difficulties [...]

Read complete paper:
www.cost-house.com/publications/read/invest-to-cost