SUMS Consulting Value Proposition Membership
SUMS is different: we really understand universities and how to bring about sustainable and beneficial change within them.
SUMS consultants combine commercial expertise with a deep understanding of HE. Our consultants come from the commercial sector – including from the‘ Big 4’ consultancy firms – and from senior roles within universities.
We share our experience of commercial and public sector best practice. We learn from what has worked well within HE and from other sectors. We horizon scan, are aware of the issues impacting UK HE and are developing solutions to help our Members meet the challenges ahead.
SUMS is not-for-profit.
There is an increasing need to evidence how value for money is being achieved and how universities are becoming more efficient and productive. HEFCE recommends that,“ where possible, an institution’ s performance is either benchmarked against the results for a comparative group of other institutions, or compared to the institution’ s own prior performance.”
Membership of SUMS helps evidence that commitment to becoming more efficient and productive, it also gives access to our comparative studies.
SUMS Members value our:
• Expert understanding of the sector
• Fusion of commercial, public and HE sector expertise
• Focus on working in partnership, to provide long-term support
• Ability to learn from and share what has worked well elsewhere
• Objectivity
• Value for money membership model.
SUMS is an established shared service, owned and governed by our Members. We have a unique position in bringing together sector best practice for greater impact and to accelerate new ideas.
Our Members( July 2016) account for about a third of UK HE by income and student FTE and all mission groups are represented.
SUMS membership gives unique access to our Member network and our international networks.
Members pay an annual subscription. There are two membership options differentiated by the number of consulting days – both offer the same core membership benefits and have strong value propositions.
Work for non-members SUMS undertakes work for non-member universities and other HE sector bodies. Our sector benchmarks and sector expertise means that unlike many consultancies we do not have an HE learning curve, which makes us very cost-effective.
Organisation
www. sums. org. uk 7