IT and Procurement: Sometimes Opposites Attract

In 2014, tech trends focused on a transformation of application development, data ecosystems, and crowdsourcing into more digital applications. With these initiatives, IT professionals aim to show potential by making a case that an investment’s net present value and payback period projection results would be deemed worthwhile in terms of time, money and assets saved. This, however, requires an understanding of the distinct benefits of the proposed investment and the technological components—which can be a far-fetched endeavor for colleagues without an IT background. For this reason, IT groups feel push back from other departments who don’t feel that proposed technological innovations are necessary.

At the other side of the spectrum, Procurement looks to cut costs in operations and manage processes and efficiency in supply chains to integrate leaner ways to achieve business objectives. Although value and innovation is a goal of procurement, the department serves to eliminate the unnecessary. This perspective can clash with groups who believe that pricey investments are fundamental, when they offer convenience and other benefits but are not truly essential.

The disparate interests of IT and Procurement departments offer a challenge that makes it seem as though the groups are incapable of collaboration. Believe it or not, this is not the case. There are actionable steps toward seamless IT/Procurement partnership that allow synergy in the two departments’ organizational goals.

To begin to build a set of best practices to fulfill this coalition, Source One is hosting a free webinar on October 22, 2014 at 1:00PM EST to provide steps to form a strong foundation. This webinar, presented by David Pastore (Director of IT Sourcing at Source One) and Jim Cantell (Director of Channel Programs at Liaison Technologies), will outline key steps that your procurement and IT departments can use right now to improve communications and increase internal value.

Don’t miss this opportunity to increase the value of your internal staff. Register here: http://goo.gl/forms/xtQ9usgFhg

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