When it comes to appreciating the enabling powers of technology, few are quicker to see the benefits than an IT manager. New solutions are constantly helping them to speed up once lengthy processes and provide faster access to the crucial insights which empower IT leaders to take up more strategic roles. When it comes to embracing the digital solutions that are making it easier to buy technology however, IT managers have been slower on the uptake.
Research shows that most are yet to adopt the digital procurement solutions available to them. The majority are instead still relying on manual processes that can prove costly, both financially and through the time wasted. For example, almost one-in-five say that every month around one week of their time is spent buying IT equipment. Here, Ian Nethercot shares three reasons why it’s time for IT managers to embrace digital procurement solutions that will release time that can be spent on more strategic tasks.
1) It’s impossible to keep up
Even if manual procurement methods were as efficient as possible, it would be impossible to keep up with the volume of price changes in the IT market. There are up to 30,000 price fluctuations every single day. When Probrand conducted research with IT buyers about their buying habits, it revealed that 75% were unaware of this constant state of flux.
It happens so often that in the time it takes to pick up the phone to purchase a laptop, an item could have gone up in price by as much as 60% or become eligible for discount – and this will often get missed if buyers lack the visibility that digital solutions provide. It’s also true that even if the price they are seeing is still correct, this could become irrelevant if an item has gone out of stock. With digital procurement solutions, however, IT buyers can see live pricing and accurate stock levels in the supply chain at all times.
2) Greater market transparency
As every vendor has their own pricing model and route to market, comparing several reseller supplier prices is the only way to ensure you are getting the best value for money. Nearly half of IT buyers (45%) now do manual price comparison research online, but it’s a time consuming process. And, while this can give greater reassurance that buyers are not getting ripped off, it still doesn’t provide true visibility of the markups that are actually being added by resellers above the trade price. Our research shows most aren’t getting the value they think they are with this manual price comparison process, some are paying one-off markups as high as 1,126%.
During volatile times, such as during the Covid-19 lockdown period, it can be difficult to know if suppliers are inflating prices or not. Our research has shown that IT suppliers will routinely charge higher margins during these periods especially, often in excess of 50%. When armed with digital procurement tools, however, buyers quickly gain transparency over the market. They can scan thousands of options from a breadth of suppliers in an instant. Real-time pricing also allows buyers to benchmark and validate the exact margins being charged, enabling fully informed purchasing decisions to be made.
3) Allow IT teams to focus on their core responsibilities
The latest data shows that the UK is among five countries currently struggling the most with a technology skills deficit. This shortage of talent at a national level means IT teams are being stretched thin. They are being asked to juggle multiple roles while businesses look to find new recruits to provide the support they need.
When this is the case, organisations should aim to have their team members focus on their core role, be that a systems administrator, technical engineer or developer – rather than overburden them with additional duties such as procurement. When you consider that procuring technology is not in the job specification of 70% of people who end up buying IT, this doesn’t make sense.
While it’s true that technology can never replicate the ability of an individual to negotiate and apply judgement, what it can do is ease the burden on overstretched and overworked IT managers. The ability to embrace digital procurement systems will free up their time, allow them to focus on more strategic activities and provide organisations with better value for money. So it’s time for IT managers to challenge the norms of manual ways of buying IT and be innovators in adopting digital technology to unlock time and budget for more strategic tasks.