ICM Partners is a talent and literary agency that is dedicated to the representation of artists, content creators, authors, artisans, and journalists. The company is the third ranked talent agency in the world. Many of the world’s biggest stars are represented by ICM. Collectively they have produced many of the top grossing motion pictures in history. Along with a stable of hit Emmy award winning television shows and music artists with multiple Grammys. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA and has offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and employs over 700 people.

When TSG first met with ICM in 2006, they were rapidly expanding and acquired a smaller agency. They merged the two companies into their Beverly Hills location. The added employees and equipment was challenging to integrate. They were top heavy with hardware and had barely scratched the surface of software to manage their document processes. Internally there was staff frustration, regarding equipment performance, and delays in script turn around time to their agents and clients. Their equipment and facilities management solution was outdated and costly.

The Brief

The Research and Analytics

We performed our TekTrak analysis. Objectives were outlined-

  • Reduce overall document processing expenses

  • Streamline workflow

  • Emailing of scripts and headshots

  • Standardize the print fleet

  • Simplify billing

  • Decrease the turnaround time on their core product- bound scripts

  • Document printing costs and facilities management expenses were high and productivity slow

  • Reviewed hundreds of contracts, bills, and invoices a validated financial model and operational analysis was provided.

TSG’s TekTrak analysis included all equipment in their LA, North Campus and NY offices, in summary, 5 duplicators, 21 MFP’s, 66 fax machines, 153 mono printers, 23 color printers, 7 scanners, 2 binders and associated workflow was identified. Overall monthly usage averaged over 2,164,000 images per month. During our discovery, we found billing discrepancies and saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars before even implementing our solution.

The Collaboration

TSG provided a validated business case and earned the trust of the IT Department and CFO. Approaching as partners rather than sellers, they worked as an extension of their accounting department, providing factual information and proof of their findings. By working directly with the staff and reviewing all aspects of their current operations and reviewing potential solutions both client and seller felt comfortable moving forward, with a partnership forged.

TSG’s TekTrak results provided a roadmap to improve performance, reduce expenses, time spent by IT/Management and faster, better production.

  • Service had been a particularly troublesome issue. Service at TSG, calls are done in minutes not hours via a “hands-on, on-site” proactive service program.

  • An immediate reduction in operating expenses of 37% translated to a savings of $1,937,653 over 5 years, an annual fixed cost and single monthly invoice simplified a complex problem.

  • No capital outlay was required for the solution which included best in class back-office printers.

  • MFP’s, printers were consolidated and standardized to a single model, all service, supplies, paper, binder and strips, staples everything, even manpower and on site techs.

The Solution

" TSG’s TekTrak™ provided us a validated business case to upgrade our printing equipment and streamline our workflow; we significantly reduced operating expenses without any capital outlay. Subsequent agreements and analytics, continued to reduce output and expenses while providing print management software, increased service levels and simplified billing for ICM on a national basis. "

Greg Chun, Former CIO

ICM PARTNERS