IT & cross-functional cost benchmarking
COST HOUSE expertise, now integrated into MASAI
Our engagements combine consulting expertise and dedicated tools, supported by VALOPTIA, a software solution from the group.
Your costs vs. the best in the market: 200+ engagements to position yourself
Our proprietary benchmarks, built on more than 5,000 engagements and updated each year, allow you to compare your cross-functional and IT costs with market benchmarks. We identify performance gaps, quantify optimization potential, and prioritize levers with a concrete action plan. Average result: 8 to 15% optimization potential identified across benchmarked functions.
- Do you know where your costs stand compared to the leaders in your sector?
Business Cases & Témoignages Clients
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Business Case
IT cost benchmark for the IT department of an industrial group (IT budget €200M, 3,000 users)
Identification of 15% optimization potential, i.e. €30M over 3 years
“An IT action plan validated by top management and integrated into the strategic plan”
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Business Case
Benchmark of support functions for a services group (HR, finance, legal, communications)
Identification of €8M in achievable savings over 24 months
“A transformation roadmap for support functions with milestones and owners”
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Business Case
Comparative analysis of outsourcing costs for a telecom operator (€50M in contracts)
Contract renegotiation with a 12% reduction in recurring costs (€6M/year)
“An IT supplier management model based on market costs and strengthened SLAs”
Understand your objectives and priorities
- Be able to effectively compare yourself with your peers
- Have quantitative comparison elements
- Offer “qualitative” exchanges based on feedback from comparable stakeholders
Deploy our approach
- A benchmark based on an open framework, that of the DFCG.
- Offer organizations the opportunity to share information on their costs, based on a common reference model.
- A framework developed by a working group of 25 companies, covering the 16 major cross-functional areas common to any company (finance, management control, HR, procurement, IT, general services, quality, legal, etc.).
- Comparisons carried out using indicators validated by participants, in compliance with each party’s confidentiality rules.
Generate concrete and sustainable results
- A summary booklet published each year.
- More than two hundred indicators compared.
- A comprehensive summary of workshops and feedback.
Business Cases & Témoignages Clients
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Business Case
Benchmark of cross-functional functions for a major player in the infrastructure sector (3,000+ employees).
Benchmarking of 8 cross-functional functions and IT costs to objectify performance, position against best practices (DFCG & Cigref), and identify priority optimizations. Deliverables: data collection files, consolidated presentation materials, indicators positioned vs. minimum / maximum / average values, insight report and analysis of optimization opportunities.
“A structured approach that made it possible to objectify performance levels and identify concrete optimization areas, now integrated into the roadmap.”
Understand your objectives and priorities
- Be able to compare yourself with your peers
- Have quantitative comparison elements
- Work at an operational level enabling exchanges across multiple sectors
- Identify optimization opportunities
- Have “qualitative” discussions based on feedback from comparable stakeholders
Deploy our approach
- A benchmark group active since 2010, with a database of more than €2.5 billion in annual spending analyzed.
- Offer CIOs the opportunity to share information about their costs within a restricted community, based on a common reference model.
- Comparisons carried out on indicators validated by participants, respecting each party’s confidentiality rules.
- Various topics covered in workshops: project tracking through to value, SAM approach and technical debt, P2P / timesheets / data collection / orders processes, IaaS / PaaS vs On Premise costs, contributions of AI to management control, management of licenses / subscriptions / maintenance, Opex / Capex rules, costing and carbon model.
Generate concrete and sustainable results
- An annual summary report published each year with more than one hundred indicators compared.
- A comprehensive summary of workshops and peer feedback.
- Concrete optimization opportunities derived from benchmarking and qualitative exchanges.
Business Cases & Témoignages Clients
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Business Case
IT cost benchmark group created in 2010, bringing together 27 participants in 2025 around a shared cost model.
More than €5 billion in IT spending analyzed and compared, ~80 indicators measured, 6 workshops per year.
“A community of CIOs who benchmark in confidence and continuously identify efficiency levers through feedback from comparable organizations.”
Understand your objectives and priorities
- Reduce costs while preserving quality and the value delivered to customers.
- Analyze the overall IT cost structure, starting from the organizational overview and then breaking it down into analysis areas for each major domain.
- Link cost and value and align with market best practices.
- For each domain, identify and qualify potential gains using appropriate methodological tools.
Generate concrete and sustainable results
- An approach at the core of the firm’s expertise, enabling a review of the IT department’s cost structure across 25 main analysis areas.
- Consolidation of the approach through our benchmarks and market analyses.
- Involvement of operational teams and managers, who become real contributors to the optimization initiative.
Deploy our approach
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A structured optimization program, ready to be deployed.
Qualified and quantified savings opportunities, structured within a deployment plan.
A structured optimization program, ready to be deployed.
Qualified and quantified savings opportunities, structured within a deployment plan. - Operational and tool-supported monitoring of the deployment plan.
- Operational and tool-supported monitoring of the deployment plan.
Business Cases & Témoignages Clients
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Business Case
IT cost benchmark for the IT department of a retail player (full scope of the IT cost model).
Comparison of the IT cost model (≈100 KPIs) with a reference panel: cost benchmarking against market best practices, identification of savings opportunities, action plan, and executive-level presentation for the COMEX. Deliverables: analysis and structuring of the IT cost model, benchmark results vs panel, executive presentation materials, action plan.
“A clear and structuring benchmark that enabled a better understanding of IT costs and supported management decision-making.”