This reference page organizes the material both from posts and other detailed templates to provide a comprehensive view of technology procurement and its best practices. These practices can also be applied to the general procurement office.
I have assembled a set of templates and practices that I and my procurement teams have leveraged at multiple large corporations to successfully raise the procurement capability and results. Given that many IT organizations spend 60% or more of their budget on external products and services, achieving a 10 to 30% improved in external spend is very significant — consider that you would be able either provide savings back to the profit line or invest them in greater innovation.
Often, procurement is viewed as an administrative function and the business or IT simply look to ensure there is a minimum of friction and time lost in transactions. But in an administrative mode, procurement teams cannot be effective partners to business leaders or IT leaders and drive proper value nor protect the corporation from poor contracts with onerous or difficult terms and conditions.
Further, increasing regulatory scrutiny requires corporations to properly manage vendors and the data the corporation provides them. Thus, not only will a good procurement team ensure value, but also it is now a regulatory requirement to ensure proper vendor management (e.g., under GDPR).
The procurement best practices are organized into 3 sections:
- the Procurement Lifecycle, which covers how the overall procurement approach and how to get started
- Leveraging a Technology Acquisition Process describes how to conduct transactions so that you can establish a competitive landscape and optimize your external spend
- Effective vendor management complements the service or product acquisition by ensuring best value and improvements for services after the contract is signed
I appreciate the many different colleagues, especially Eric Espinasse and Thomas Kelly, who provided feedback and ideas to improve and develop these best practices.
Best, Jim Ditmore