Alantra: Solving IT procurement with speed and efficiency
In his Markit Forum Virtual 2021 presentation “Solving procurement with speed and efficiency”, Javier Fernández (Head of IT) at Alantra explained how his team identified and solved the pain points in their global IT procurement program.
Back in 2018 decentralised IT purchasing was led by country managers who bought from whichever suppliers they preferred.
With differing procurement and invoicing processes across 20 countries, the situation in 2018 was overly complex.
Alantra countries were buying IT at different prices, with different lead times and in different currencies. The result - a lack of harmony, limited purchasing power, and multiple points of contact in different countries/languages.
So, in 2018, Alantra decided to start working with Markit to improve the speed and efficiency of their IT purchasing processes with speed and efficiency.
Two key challenges were initially addressed:
Not being able to meet the company’s onboarding deadlines which sometimes resulted in newly hired senior people couldn’t always have their IT hardware up and running on day one.
Not having a “global” approach, and supporting processes, to procurement being a global company,
Javier's team went for some quick wins first such as meeting 24/48-hour deadlines, simplifying the purchasing process, and harmonising the hardware selection (more secure and able to roll out new features and functionalities without testing too much).
They ran a pilot in Spain, where fifteen Alantra entities and their headquarters are situated and there is a level of complexity that would thoroughly stress test the Markit solution.
The main issues faced were:
Inconsistent delivery times and missed deadlines.
Various product models were purchased (20 different models which from IT management perspective didn’t make sense).
Price, not value, was the main decision driver.
Lack of visibility and spend management.
All the problems were solved, and rollout began, so far to 11 countries.
The key success factors were identified as:
Same simple web-based procurement process for all entities and countries.
Ability to buy consistently the same in-stock models in different locations
24/48-hour delivery times for many items
Consolidated our IT suppliers (in some countries Markit is our only supplier)
Leverage buying volume to get lower prices.
There was added value too.
With full visibility Alantra can now forecast requirements accurately and can look back and find serial numbers (important for security).
Monthly invoicing of all invoices for whole group are now in one place.
Each country has a proactive, local Markit support team (intro local teams to each other).
In summary Alantra has developed a robust IT procurement process than can be handled locally so the central IT team can focus on other areas.
Alantra are now looking ahead for further process improvements for new country rollouts e.g., they want to speed up time it takes to get equipment to the user whether they are at office or at home.
Also, they like users just to “turn on and connect” and get laptops with computer image and security delivered to the home.
The Alantra-Markit process will be deployed next in US and China.
Alantra are confident all will go well, and so are we.
Watch the Alantra presentation on YouTube now.
Read the main Markit Forum Virtual 2021 Report or check the other individual client presentation reports from:
- Western Union - 6 Principles for Success -Navigating a Changing World
- Danfoss - How to Make Your Procurement Future – Proof?
- SEB - Taking a diverse approach to procurement
- Revolut - Managing procurement while building a hybrid-work company of the future
- Greentube - How user-centric procurement can drive innovation and influence employee satisfaction