End-to-End IT Procurement: A Simple Blueprint

Supplying your team with the right technology is a critical precursor to helping them perform their jobs at a high level. 

As we’ll find out, that is a science that requires strategic planning and execution. And it all starts with IT procurement.

What Is IT Procurement?

Simply put, it’s the process of getting IT products into the hands of your employees — those working in-house or remotely. 

IT procurement activities first start with identifying what types of information technology your company needs. This can include physical assets like computers, tablets, and smartphones. 

And it can include digital assets, such as software, apps, cybersecurity products, and software licenses. 

Next, it involves evaluating a potential vendor to see if they have the right technology assets to match your business needs and are reputable with a proven track record. 

Then there’s contract negotiation, where you agree upon pricing, a renewal date, and general terms and conditions with a vendor. 

Finally, you actually source the IT assets from a vendor and integrate them into business operations while maintaining vendor relationships and practicing procurement management. 

The ultimate goal of technology procurement is to seamlessly acquire the IT assets you need while reaching your organizational goals, staying in line with your budget, and maximizing ROI. 

Note that IT procurement can be done directly within your company, or it can be outsourced through third-party IT procurement services. 

With a managed IT service, procurement professionals will typically handle the following on your behalf to ensure efficient procurement while eliminating much of the hassle. 

• Vendor evaluation
• Vendor selection
• Logistics
• Communication
• Procurement contract management
• Vendor management 
• Overall procurement management

Optimal Framework for the IT Procurement Process

There is no one-size-fits-all formula for the IT procurement process, as each company has unique needs, goals, budget constraints, and so on. 

That said, there is an optimal framework that tackles every core aspect of the process that follows IT procurement best practices while providing efficient procurement orchestration across the board. 

It involves nine key steps. 

1. Needs Identification

Before anything else, you must first 1) identify which specific forms of information technology you need and 2) determine what your goals are with asset procurement.

For hardware procurement, for example, maybe you need desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and routers. 

And for software procurement, maybe you need SaaS platforms like CRM software and project management software. 

As for goals, maybe you’re looking to increase employee productivity, reduce security threats, improve data accuracy, and maximize your ROI.

2. Approval of a Purchase Request

After identifying each business technology need, the next step in your procurement effort is to create an official purchase request to submit for approval with the appropriate stakeholders. 

Here, you’ll want to explain: 

• What your IT needs are
• Why those needs are justified
• How much your procurement plan will likely cost

This should then be passed off for approval. After that, you can move on to the next step in the IT procurement process. 

3. Make or Buy Analysis

Once your approval of a purchase request has been greenlighted, you come to a fork in the road. 

You can either purchase an information technology solution from a vendor or you can develop it in-house — a choice that will largely be influenced by whether you’re looking for direct procurement or indirect procurement. 

Given that many businesses lack the internal know-how and expertise to develop a technology solution from the ground up, most opt to buy from a vendor. But this is still a critical point in the IT procurement cycle and a decision that should at least be considered before moving forward. 

4. Market Research

Assuming you decided to buy from a vendor with your IT procurement strategy, the next step is to perform thorough market research to find the best option.  

Here are some key criteria to consider when looking at potential suppliers:

• Product offerings
• Features
• Cost
• Contract length
• Ratings
• Reviews
• Overall vendor reputation 

Ideally, you’ll narrow it down to three or four potential suppliers to find the one that best fits your company’s needs. This brings us to our next step in effective IT procurement. 

5. Supplier Vetting and Risk Analysis

Once you have a shortlisted vendor list, you’ll want to make a more detailed assessment of each one and look at the following. 

• Reputability
• Reliability
• Business continuity track record for software (e.g., does a SaaS product experience frequent downtime?)
• Financial stability
• Security
• Technology compliance

Synthesize this information along with your market research, and you should have a pretty good idea of which technology vendor can best serve your business’s needs. 

6. Vendor Selection

Based on your findings, it’s now time to officially choose who you feel is the best vendor — the one who checks most, if not all, of the boxes. 

A simple procurement best practice to make an objective comparison is to score potential vendors based on the factors listed above, such as offerings, features, reputability, and so on. 

For example, vendor A may get a 7 out of 10 on offerings, an 8 out of 10 on features, and a 10 out of 10 on reputability, for a total score of 8.3 out of 10.

And vendor B may get a 5 out of 10 on offerings, a 6 out of 10 on features, and an 8 out of 10 on reputability, for a total score of 6.3 out of 10. 

Compared side by side, vendor A would be the better choice for strategic sourcing. 

7. Proposal Evaluation and Contract Negotiation

Once you’ve made your decision, it’s time to look at the vendor’s proposal, carefully checking the details to ensure they align with your business goals. 

Some specific elements to consider include service level agreements, pricing, timeline, renewal date, and additional terms and conditions. 

You’ll also want to see if there’s any room for negotiating contracts to find the best possible terms. Note that if there’s anything that is at odds with your needs or any last-minute red flags, you may want to opt for a different vendor. 

8. Procurement Execution

At this point, it’s just a matter of finalizing the deal and officially completing your purchase order. There are two main things to note at this stage. 

One is that you should maintain thorough documentation of what you agreed upon in case any issues arise later on. 

The other is that someone should be appointed to oversee the implementation of your IT assets while following the procurement best practices outlined in your procurement policy. 

If you’re doing it in-house, this will likely be a procurement manager or a chief procurement officer. Or if you’re outsourcing, this will be a third-party procurement specialist.

9. Performance Monitoring and Supplier Management

The final step in technology procurement operations is done post-purchase after you’ve implemented your IT assets and your employees have completed onboarding. 

Supplier performance monitoring involves ensuring the product is performing as it should in the agreement. 

And vendor procurement management involves ensuring the vendor is living up to their end of the bargain in the supplier relationship and making sure that consistent communication is being maintained. 

Let allwhere Take the Hassle Out of IT Procurement

As you can see, there’s a lot that goes into developing an effective IT procurement strategy, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. If you want to find the best hardware and software from the most reputable vendors without any heavy lifting, allwhere can help you do just that. 

Our procurement team specializes in offering effortless IT procurement and will help you find exactly what you need from today’s top vendors for hassle-free procurement and deployment. 

We handle end-to-end logistics, vendor communication, and IT shipping, while keeping you in the loop every step of the way. You can also keep tabs from start to finish via an intuitive platform, so you know the status of your devices at all times. 

Get the full details on allwhere IT procurement here.