Kirk Conole, Partner kconole@dcisolutions.net (888) 395-0809 www.dcisolutions.net

Pressures in Every Company:

• Heavier work loads

• Fewer staff

• High tax burdens

• Rising overhead in health care, utilities, etc.

• More regulation and compliance costs

• Demands of investors, shareholders, and lenders

Results of These Pressures?

• Under-resourced to see all cost drivers

• “Knowledge silos” and data fragmentation

• Subtle and excessive vendor influence

• Margin compression

• Less profit, smaller bonuses, more vulnerability

• Stress

Needed: A Solution that …

• Protects you and your company

• Frees up your team to focus on core competencies

• Increases your control while decreasing your effort

• Accelerates your company’s financial performance

• Creates clear, attractive, and sustainable results

• Increases corporate value significantly

• Rewards your leadership in cost performance

Stop trying…

Your staff has already done the best they can do.

Who has time to gather hundreds of pricing benchmarks?

If you did, how much would core responsibilities suffer?

Best approach leverages a manageable time commitment.

No dentist works on his own teeth.

“The Four T Test” for Intelligent Cost Savings

Time: Process optimizes savings with minimal time?

Treasure: Token investment for best-in-class consultants?

Trouble: Avoid sacrifices, hassles, and wasted time?

Transparent: Clear, transparent, easy-to-prove results?

DCI’s Story and Unique Value

In 1999, a former CFO started "Shelter Island Solutions" to

help executives see quick, non-disruptive overhead savings. That same year, a team out of a Big 4 firm started "DCI" to

provide specialized tax credits and uncover large tax refunds.

In 2001, they became “DCI Solutions,” a cost advisory service

with 40 subject matter experts in tax and overhead savings.

Our experts routinely recover six and seven figure amounts

and increase cost efficiencies by as much as 300%.

The quality and acumen of our people will help you to reduce

stress, increase your control, and grow your profit quickly.

Why DCI is Your Best Alternative

• We have the time to get your savings now – do you?

• Unlike boutiques, we find all your money, not just some

• We always find savings; 100% of the time

• Unobtrusive, soft touch

You need a firm of experts able to find all your savings

now. The months you overpay cannot be returned.

Approach

• Data collected quietly in one afternoon – Analysis is offsite

• Recommendations require no switching or corner cutting

• Guaranteed results proportionate to meeting time

• Dashboard makes best use of your limited bandwidth

• Hard dollar Savings without risk

• Annual Savings = 1% x annual revenue in some cases

You Decide Which Way the Arrows Go

• Easily see the facts

• Quickly improve

• Fuel profits and growth

• Upgrade your control

• Increase your acumen

Treasury: $100,000 savings in merchant fees .

Treasury: Same Bank, 31% Lower Fees

.

Monthly savings totaled $5,633.75, translating to over $200,000 in three years

Services/Supplies: Waste

Total Fuel/Environment Recovery Fee $2,717.63 Total City Tax $3,268.06 Current Invoice Charges $20,423.38

Audit detected a fabricated monthly charge; 14% of the total bill

Tax: Sales Tax Refunds

Vendors often over charge on sales tax.

A multitude of over-

collected taxes on a range

of products and services

Tax Credits: Multi State Hiring Credits

Audit finds unclaimed and non-optimized tax

credits; savings = $21,986.03

LTL Freight

A measureable 40% reduction in

freight expense

LTL Freight: $800,000/year Saved

Utilities: Energy Tariff Analysis Saves up to 18%

Service Address City Old

Rate New Rate

Annual Total Bill Old Rate($)

Annual Total Bill New Rate($)

Savings from Rate change($)

Saved

7891 N BLACKSTONE AVE # A FRESNO A1 A10S $10,604.12 $9,776.63 $827.49 8%

212 VINTAGE WAY # L2 NOVATO A1 A10S $11,793.24 $10,944.06 $849.18 7%

5777 CHRISTIE AVE EMERYVILLE A1 A10S $13,480.64 $12,420.91 $1,059.73 8%

838 MARKET ST SAN FRANCISCO A1 E19SV $32,535.13 $25,544.93 $6,990.20 21%

8375 ARROYO CIR STE 48 GILROY A6 A10S $11,849.65 $10,325.12 $1,524.53 13%

460 EL CERRITO PLZ EL CERRITO A1 A10S $10,214.50 $9,621.46 $593.04 6%

323 CORTE MADERA TOWN CTR CORTE MADERA A6 A10S $14,280.40 $12,364.46 $1,915.94 13%

5410 PACIFIC AVE STOCKTON A1 A10S $32,832.68 $28,513.36 $4,319.32 13%

838 MARKET ST SAN FRANCISCO A1 E19SV $36,133.75 $29,472.86 $6,660.89 18%

Services: 20% Lower Payroll Processing Fees

Annual Savings: $51,025

Accounts Payable: Where Refunds Occur

AP Audit: Detecting Invisible Costs

Insurance: Property Costs Reduced 5 cents/ft

:

Leadership

Jim Baker; Partner

Jim serves as the Chief Cost Reduction Officer for DCI Solutions

focusing on development of systems and processes to provide

Benchmarking and Cost Recovery Solutions to the Firm’s client base.

Jim also interacts with DCI consultants and clients to ensure DCI’s

methodologies are effectively implemented to meet the individual

needs of DCI’s multifaceted client base. Prior to DCI Solutions, Jim

served in several executive, operational, and financial positions for two

publicly traded retail chains. As the Executive Vice President and Chief

Financial Officer for one of them, he was instrumental in growing it from

35 stores in 1991 to 300 stores in 1999. He successfully completed a

public offering of the Company’s stock which was a consistent top

performer on the NASDAQ from 1998 to 1999. Jim attended Southern

Illinois University and holds a BBA with a Specialization in Accounting.

Leadership

Gary Amico; Partner

Gary is head of Tax Consulting for DCI Solutions and brings Best Practice

results in the area of Taxation to the Firm’s clients. Gary provides general

methodology and process to Firm’s Total Tax Solution Practice as well as

providing Tax Recovery and Consulting. His expertise in taxation is acquired

from multiple years experience as a Senior Manager for a Big 4 Accounting

Firm, where he oversaw projects for Fortune 1000 companies in state and local

income tax, franchise tax, municipal business license tax, sales and use tax,

hiring tax credits, and audit representation. Gary was one of the primary authors

of the telecommunications tax reform movement and was instrumental in

drafting Section 602 of the 1996 Federal Telecommunications Act. Gary earned

his B.S. in Accounting from Loyola-Marymount University and his law Degree

from Loyola Law School. He has completed the Institute of Property

Taxation’s Sales and Use Tax School and is active in the California Society of

C.P.A. State and Local Tax Discussion Group.

Leadership

Kirk Conole; Partner

Kirk provides general consulting in the area of Energy Consumption and

Strategic Use for DCI Solutions’ clients. Kirk is also responsible for marketing

the Firms CORE and Tax Solutions throughout the DCI client base. Kirk

received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University.

Prior to DCI, Kirk was the principal of Independent Energy Services, where he

provided utility rate and tariff analysis, along with economic analysis for energy

projects including back-up generation, co-generation, solar energy, and energy

efficiency.

“Quick Strike” Timeline

• Need 30-90 Minutes with Client

• DCI auditor needs access to vendor invoice file for one afternoon

• Follow up questions at your convenience

• Benchmarking mostly completed; analyses presented to Client

• Review DCI’s savings recommendations

• Map out next steps for all Client approved recommendations

• Need 30-90 minutes with Client

• Coordinated effort with bulk of work done by DCI

• Some savings require marginal client effort

Verification

Day 1: Evaluation

Day 22: Confirmation

Day 30 – Day 90: Implementation

• Audit invoices to confirm new discounts in place

• Spreadsheet to display “Before and After” pricing

• Client’s acknowledgement and approval of “Before and After”

• Ongoing, trusted advisor relationship

Saving $100K/year increases Corp. value from $500K to $900K

Saving $1 MM/year increases Corp. value from $5 MM to $9 MM!!

How do you want to increase profits and value 3% to 10%?

a) Pay DCI for 100 hours and keep 100% of the savings?

OR

b) Put DCI to work and split the savings?

Either decision is better than the status quo (0% of savings!)

Kirk Conole, Partner

kconole@dcisolutions.net

www.dcisolutions.net

DCI is the cost reduction firm for companies that demand more control, more cost

intelligence and more profit. Put our collaborative team of highly specialized

professionals to work for you today – and achieve peak performance.

Teamwork

A crew of experts accelerating your performance