The benefits of having an IT procurement partner

Many businesses are turning to IT procurement partners to source their equipment, we discuss why it’s a crucial strategic function and the value of working with a trusted partner. Finding the right partner for your business takes careful decision making, you don’t want to end up in a situation where your partner is selling you items and services which don’t directly align with your wider IT strategy.

Why you need a procurement partner

1. They understand what you need

Procurement teams hold a wealth of experience in acquiring different types of equipment for businesses across many industries. The chances are, they’ve probably come across the same issues your facing before. The great thing about working with a partner is that they’ll:

• Listen to your issues and make suggestions based on experience
• Take into consideration that a business’s needs and priorities will evolve over time
• Align the procurement project with business goals and objectives

2. You’ll get immediate cost saving opportunities

An experienced provider will have a holistic view of the supply chain and established relationships with suppliers. This enables them to provide their clients with cost saving opportunities. Procurement partners work hard to seek out suppliers that provide the best value in terms of pricing, capabilities and their history with supply and demand. And once they do find the right suppliers to work with, they continue to maintain those relationships – resulting in a rewarding partnership for everyone in the chain!

3. You get access to expertise

Procuring your equipment through a partner will give you instant access to honed technical skills and experience. With this practical working knowledge, your partner will be able to source equipment for you depending on your current IT set up and requirements. It’s extremely crucial to partner with a provider that knows what they’re talking about and understands technology. Why? Because you don’t want to end up with technology that doesn’t integrate well with your current architecture. For example, ending up with hardware that isn’t spec’d to align with your cloud setup. And trust us, it happens!

4. You’ll gain a long-term, reliable partner!

Following on from selecting a provider who is highly experienced, if you were to go directly through an MSP (Managed Services Provider), rather than an independent supplier, you’ll automatically open up the doors to new technology and solutions that you previously may not have even considered.

Their experience encompasses cyber security, cloud solutions and infrastructure management, so you could end up with a long-standing partnership to oversee your procurement and take responsibility of your infrastructure, cloud or security. This gives your partner visibility into your entire infrastructure, making it easier for them to suggest tailored recommendations.

What a successful procurement partner looks like

Excellent negotiation skills

An experience procurement partner will have a good understanding of prices and will be able to negotiate for you.  By partnering with one, you’ll end up with procuring equipment at a much better rate compared to if your business did this themselves.

Strategic thinking

The business landscape is extremely complex, so to navigate around that, strategic thinking should be at the forefront. A strategic partner is generally detail orientated and can see the bigger picture in terms of long-term strategies, not just short term. They’ll lead the vision, influence decisions to the executive leaders and take business objectives into account when suggesting recommendations. All whilst keeping cost reduction, new product developments and managing risks at the centre of procurement projects.

So in a nutshell, strategic thinking is the way forward, and your ticket to a successful partnership!

Focuses on service delivery

Professional and experienced procurement partners have a strong focus on service excellence and intend on finding methods to meet the needs, objectives and goals of their clients. That means forming a relationship with clients built on trust, communication and professionalism. If you’re communicating your needs and are finding that you’re not getting a response, then its probably time to switch partners. You need a partner that listens to you, respects your requirements and above all, get the job accurately done.

Takes responsibility and understands best practices

Handing over a large responsibility like procurement takes trust, so if something wrong goes along the way then your partner should take ownership for that. Let’s take finance and budgeting in this as an example. You might think its your business’s responsibility to control the spending, right? Well that may be, and you do have some involvement, but your partner should have a good financial understanding of management and budget. That means if what they’re proposing to procure doesn’t align with your budget, then they’re not doing their job properly, being fiscally responsible, or listening to your requirements.

How OryxAlign can help with procurement

OryxAlign’s experts have a deep understanding of changing industry trends, evolving technologies and client pain points. Their years of experience working with numerous clients from various industries and knowledge of the market has allowed them to help clients procure equipment based on their requirements and infrastructure set up.

Whether its something simple as procuring hardware to facilitate remote working, sourcing meeting rooms solutions to support hybrid working, or planning a long term strategy, OryxAlign can provide clients with equipment to suit multiple needs.

If you’re looking for a procurement partner, or simply looking for more information, contact our team today.