As the organizers pointed out prior to the event IT professionals are often caught in the crossfire between users deploying solutions without the traditional buying process (so-called Shadow IT in France but perhaps more widely known in English as Maverick IT Purchasing), and vendors who protect themselves behind contracts that often lack transparency. One of the other key concerns reported by CIOs is the need to find room to maneuver, to find time and money savings to finance further innovation, whilst at the same time remain agile and secure.
Another presenter, Daniel Gonzalez, Director of Alliances and Solutions at Insight confirmed that, according to their survey of 1,000 IT buyers in Europe, 72% of CIOs say optimization of IT purchasing is an issue that needs to be addressed.
On stage, Steve Barraud told the story of his previous career when he was head of purchasing in an international consulting group in 15 countries and growing fast, he had identified no less than 50 different “local” suppliers, and so local buyers spent a significant amount of their time requesting and analysing quotes instead of focusing on the structuring of purchases. He saw the need for a competitively priced IT purchasing solution with a single interface connecting the buyer(s) to all the wholesalers/distributors that matter in each local market, with real-time stock availability. Not only that, he knew also that any such solution would need to be compliant with any regulatory and prior commercial agreements, and also require real time price comparisons to eliminate the inefficient tender process. Steve then discovered Markit (which does all those things), became a client and after some years, switched and became Country Manager at Markit France to advise other multinationals on how to cut the total cost of IT purchasing in their organisations.
It’s unsurprising that Markit’s solution and story went down well in Paris, Markit is growing in popularity among French IT buyers and the client list now includes Michelin, Pizzarotti, Danfoss, Amaris and many more.
As Steve says, “"Optimize your IT device and accessory purchasing, it’s often an under-estimated expense with potential for significant time and money savings."
To read the full report (in French) please visit: Le DSI, de costkiller à FinOps : les meilleures pratiques de l'achat IT