We believe the IT purchasing process should be fair and honest. The fundamental principle is open competition – free access to a competitive marketplace governed by transparent data and pricing, open to analysis and review. Useless tenders and shady offers complicate matters for both IT buyers and sellers. Only real transparency can bring a stop to the endless games.
Transparency is a fundamental value that our 8000+ international clients enjoy and take full advantage of. One of the key benefits of transparency is the creation of time – time that they use to focus on more strategic activities or gain insights into their IT spend and supplier management.
The ideal indirect IT purchasing solution incorporates various transparency components:
Real time pricing comparing products from all the main suppliers in your area
Real time delivery speed estimates, and knowing where your products are “right now”
Disclosure how the basket price can be optimised through bundling or adjusting volumes
Spend analysis data presented to you in a way that informs decisions to create more value and increase performance
Transparent supplier performance data about delivery speed history, RMA levels, SLAs etc.
If these key transparency elements are available, then IT buyers like you can:
Manage your tail spend
Reduce your supplier count (possibly down to ONE actually)
Benchmark your purchasing performance in different geographic locations
Negotiate volume pricing
Avoid duplicate purchases
Reduce delivery times and “last mile” distances
Have more answers: for the CFO, CEO, Accounts and the rest of your stakeholders
Increase internal accountability and performance and...
...Reduce the total cost of your IT purchasing.
At the end of the day if your IT purchasing solution isn’t saving you time and money, year on year then, well, you really should be looking for improvements.
Of course, many companies don’t use Markit or other systems capable of delivering the above options. Their IT purchasing data is spread around in ERP systems, supplier databases, “big” procurement platforms and so on. Trying to assemble and analyse all that data is a major, time-consuming issue. It’s hardly surprising that finding the time to gain insights and leverage is not always possible.
The Deloitte Global Chief Procurement Officer Survey 2018 stated that one of the “new” capabilities that differentiate companies with high performance purchasing functions is supply chain transparency. The survey findings showed that overall supply chain transparency is poor with 65% of procurement leaders having limited or no visibility beyond their Tier 1 suppliers. (Spend) analytics will reportedly have the most impact on procurement in the next two years. Analytics are being used for cost optimisation (50%), process improvement (48%) and management reporting (45%).
Make your IT purchasing transparent. The most successful CPOs in the IT category know that transparency is a key success factor to reaching world class performance. It’s relatively painless as our clients will tell you and it really will save you time and money and reduce your stress levels too!