IT PROCUREMENT
TOP TIPS FOR BETTER IT PROCUREMENT PRACTICES
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Tony Harris
Global Vice President , Business Network Solutions , SAP
1 . Ensure business cases focus on total cost of ownership ( TCO ). IT procurement can often have ‘ hidden ’ costs .
2 . Align the solution with the needs of the business . Projects that require minimal people and process change carry less risk and tend to be more successful than those that aim for significant transformation . Where projects require substantial transformation , this is best done in phases to help ensure that each phase is successfully completed before introducing the next .
3 . Choose solutions that can easily adapt . Businesses must now be more agile than ever before and any technology solution underpinning the business needs to be capable of the same .
4 . Include IT experts and other relevant business stakeholders early in the process . Too often the business line makes a selection on a piece of technology and then brings IT into the process at the end only to find that the technology does not meet corporate technical standards in some way . Likewise , having IT drive the process with no early involvement from the business stakeholders can result in a solution that is a perfect technical fit but doesn ’ t address the needs of the business . IT procurement must be a marriage of IT and business to achieve optimal outcomes .
5 . Where possible , seek to build strategic relationships with the supplier . This will provide potential co-innovation opportunities and help accelerate issue resolution should any arise .
Bao-Viet Lê
Partner ( Middle East ), Bain & Company
1 . Recognise IT procurement as important source of competitive advantage .
2 . Clear understanding of spend profile – transparency on past and future demand , characteristics .
3 . Demand for real-time personalisation leads to product customisation , requiring supply base with higher risk profile .
4 . Leveraging latest technology to support analytics , supplier connectivity and business collaboration .
FEBRUARY 2021