1. An IT procurement consultancy can identify your requirements
Do you need a new system? Do you need a new service?
This is your starting point, and it’s something you can do within the company… something you can discuss with the other teams; hiring an IT procurement consultant, however, will make it possible to gain clarity on what you need. From there, your team, business or department can make decisions and work with your consultants to devise a solid procurement strategy.
2. An IT procurement consultancy can analyse your spending
As part of understanding and deciding your requirements, an IT procurement consultancy can analyse your spending and then show you how to move closer to your objectives. Their understanding of your requirements, coupled with their technical knowledge, will enable you to cut costs and also to plan your budgets for the future, including contingencies for upcoming projects and initiatives. You’ll be able to categorise your spending into: critical and non-critical; direct and indirect; non-international and international.
3. An IT procurement consultancy can help you manage your systems more flexibly
Good IT management is essential because of its impact on revenue, operations and costs, but IT and the world of procurement are changing constantly, so it’s indispensable to keep up with what’s going on. Efficient IT buying has a direct impact on how well you respond to demand from consumers and on marketplaces.
An IT procurement consultancy can help you to implement systems so you can adapt to whatever demands and challenges come your way. Ultimately, by setting you up to take the reins of your IT procurement again when the time is right, your IT procurement consultancy can leave behind a legacy for you. That’s something we strive to do here at Barkers Procurement.
4. An IT procurement consultancy can help you get stakeholder support
Once your consultancy has conducted an assessment of your needs, you’ll have the data to be able to make a strong case to key stakeholders. Visibility is the key to achieving their support because they have to be able to see where the money is going and find solutions for improving how teams are spending the money. Most importantly of all, the investment must align with the objectives of the organisation or business.
5. An IT procurement consultancy can help you assess supplier markets
Assessing your needs means looking at the external side of things, not just inside your organisation. This means looking at the supplier markets and their conditions, which is incredibly important. The deeper your understanding of the markets, the easier you can plan for any disruptions.
Note that your consultancy can also assist with supplier evaluation. You want to be able to find the best suppliers for your organisation, and you want these suppliers to be able to align their supply with the needs of your organisation (and of your customers). Sound evaluation of suppliers can mitigate risk, improve supplier performance and hold your supplier more accountable.
6. An IT procurement consultancy can ensure compliance
Your consultant will guide you on any compliance issues within procurement and help you keep within the law. This is the case, for instance, when it comes to running public sector tenders, for which the regulations are necessarily strict.
Compliance isn’t just about staying with the law when it comes to procurement, though; it’s about operating in line with your own policies and strategy. Setting limits on spend could be a policy. The agreement of certain metrics for supplier performance and/or fulfilment of contracts could be another. Whatever you have established, hiring an IT procurement consultancy will help you keep teams accountable and ensure compliance.
7. An IT procurement consultancy can help you to (re)negotiate contracts
There’s more to sourcing equipment and services than just securing them for a low price. This is when an IT procurement consultancy can come in handy. They specialise in contract negotiations and will take a holistic approach to them. They’ll be asking the hard questions, such as whether the contract terms and conditions will benefit the bottom line, but they’ll also be keeping in mind the long-term aims of the organisation and whether terms and conditions will support these.
IT procurement consultants will also use their own insight and industry and category expertise to negotiate with suppliers. They can help you to establish key performance indicators, payment milestones and other agreements so that when you find the right supplier, you get the best out of them.
8. An IT procurement consultancy can help you to lower costs and save time
Time is money. Assessing suppliers takes time. Processing RFQs takes time. Working with an IT procurement consultancy can cut the cost of lengthier processes because the consultancy can pick up some of these tasks for you.
IT procurement consultancy saves you time on operations, too. That’s because tools can take care of the data analysis, which can be laborious, and free up the project team to perform other, more pressing tasks.
9. An IT procurement consultancy can take your procurement to the next level
When you begin outsourcing your IT procurement, you create space for new opportunities. No matter what the process, the chances are you can find a cost-effective solution. You have to keep your finger on the pulse to spot fresh opportunities in the IT procurement market.
Your consultancy will keep you up to date with everything happening in IT procurement. This takes some of the pressure off you because outsourcing procurement is time consuming and there will be more than just a few obstacles. Working closely with your consultancy will allow you to identify opportunities that will boost your procurement.
10. An IT procurement consultancy will help you think longer term
You might be looking at your current procurement processes, strategies, teams and more to work out how to make rapid improvements. We understand that, but your IT procurement consultants will be looking at your strategy and thinking further into the future as well. They’ll be considering how to adapt it so that it generates long-term results. This is something we’re keen to do and leave you with that legacy.
Above you have 10 major reasons why working with an IT procurement consultancy can strengthen your procurement strategy. To find out more about how we can help you, feel free to get in touch with us, using the details on our Contact page, or visit the Services section of our website.
