Future of Sourcing - Information Technology (IT) https://futureofsourcing.com/tags/information-technology-it en How Tech Companies Can Support the Green Economy https://futureofsourcing.com/how-tech-companies-can-support-the-green-economy <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/How-Tech-Companies-Can-Support-the-Green-Economy.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/How-Tech-Companies-Can-Support-the-Green-Economy.jpg" title="Environmental concerns are rapidly becoming business concerns and many clients are looking for sustainable solutions." class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-2177--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/How-Tech-Companies-Can-Support-the-Green-Economy.jpg?itok=J-5sY39T" width="624" height="325" alt="Environmental concerns are rapidly becoming business concerns and many clients are looking for sustainable solutions." title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><em>Environmental concerns are rapidly becoming business concerns and many clients are looking for sustainable solutions says Nick Stapleton, Managing Director at ETB Technologies. With the U.K. government (and other governments worldwide) focused on tackling climate change and becoming carbon neutral, businesses need to balance finding suppliers that have green credentials with maintaining profit margins. This article looks at how businesses can support the green economy while still making good business decisions, and how governments can incentivize businesses in this endeavor.</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/addressing-carbon-emissions-in-the-supply-chain-through-a-circular-economy">Addressing Carbon Emissions in the Supply Chain Through a Circular Economy</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>In October 2021, the U.K. government published its &ldquo;Build Back Greener&rdquo; <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-strategy" target="_blank">strategy</a> with the goal of tackling climate change by decarbonizing all sectors of the economy and meeting its net zero target by 2050.</p> <p>As part of its strategy, the government sought to encourage individuals and organizations to recycle, reuse, or refurbish to reduce the amount of waste generated and sent to landfills &ndash; a key tenet in creating a circular economy. Currently landfills have a significant amount of e-waste &ndash; computers, tablets and other electronic equipment &ndash; that could have been either recycled or made good as new with a little work.</p> <h1>How IT and Technology E-Waste Impacts the Environment</h1> <p>In addition to e-waste in landfills, IT equipment produces a significant amount of waste and emissions during production. Much of the IT equipment we use is built with rare materials &ndash; the extraction of which is fueling climate change and creating pollution. As a result, the IT sector has historically been a negative contributor to the environment. But we can change this.</p> <p>On the surface it might seem that the simplest solution to improving IT&rsquo;s impact on the environment is to encourage people to recycle or reuse their equipment to reduce waste. From an IT perspective, however, recycling is an energy intensive process, and reusing equipment can mean sacrificing quality, speed, and reliability.</p> <p>We must, therefore, look to prioritize the refurbished market to support the green economy. This could have a massive influence on our industry&rsquo;s impact on the environment. In fact, one <a href="https://www.edie.net/news/5/Report--Circular-economy-could-deliver-80--of-UK-s-next-carbon-budget/" target="_blank">report</a> found the circular economy could deliver 80% of the emissions reductions the U.K. needs to meet its goals for 2028-2032. Aiding this should be our goal.</p> <h2>Business Reasons to Support Circular</h2> <p>While the environmental benefits could be huge, there are other reasons for businesses to choose refurbished hardware. For example, due to world-wide supply chain issues, some enterprise manufacturers are quoting lead times of over 100 days to fulfill orders, leading to huge delays for businesses that depend on technology for their day-to-day operations. Refurbished equipment vendors, on the other hand, have items readily available, in some cases being delivered within 24 hours of placing the order.</p> <p>Businesses can also get more for their money by choosing refurbished equipment: a business planning to buy a new server may be able to get a refurbished one with the same specs for half the price &ndash; or one with more capacity for the same price.</p> <h2>Refurbished and the End User</h2> <p>There is little downside for the end user in using refurbished equipment; over the past two decades, the industry has matured and there are far higher professional standards than when it was in its relative infancy at the turn of the millennium, including warranties as good as buying new. In many cases, refurbished products are comparable to new ones in terms of their performance, too.</p> <p>The challenge lies in changing perceptions among businesses, to encourage them to think of refurbished first when choosing new or upgrading IT equipment.</p> <p>The move to remote working coupled with a global shortage of semi-conductors and supply chain challenges has undoubtedly made the circular economy more attractive to businesses looking to invest and stay ahead during the difficulties of the past few years. But offices throughout the UK are reopening. Delays across the supply chain are ending. And as an industry, we can&rsquo;t rely on these alone to drive forward the green economy.</p> <h2>The Government&rsquo;s Role</h2> <p>Government incentives and other subsidies will be key to ensuring businesses continue considering refurbished hardware. In the December budget the Scottish Government allocated &pound;43m toward supporting this sector; the wider U.K. government needs to also consider how to incentivize companies to reduce or remove emissions from their supply chain.</p> <p>A good place to start would be for the U.K. government to update the super-deduction allowance, which lets British businesses claim back up to 25p for every &pound;1 they invest in &ldquo;qualifying&rdquo; machinery and equipment, before it ends in April 2023.</p> <p>Refurbished machinery isn&rsquo;t currently included in this allowance but &ndash; given the crucial role it has played in helping businesses access lower-cost, quality machinery while supporting carbon-friendly business decisions &ndash; it should be. VAT was taken off renewable energy purchases in the March 2022 budget announcement; surely a similar measure could be introduced to encourage refurbished purchases?</p> <h2>Looking Ahead</h2> <p>In the face of widespread price increases across the economy, businesses everywhere are looking at how to reduce their spend, while governments look to reduce waste and carbon emissions. The circular economy is the ideal marriage of these two goals.</p> <p>The U.K. government has already recognized in its strategy that the circular economy can play a key role in driving down emissions and positively contributing to the global climate setting agenda. But if the government wants to show it is serious about meeting its net zero target by 2050, refurbished equipment needs to be prioritized and support given to businesses to enable more carbon-friendly investment decisions.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/circular-economy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Circular Economy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/circularity" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Circularity</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="How Tech Companies Can Support the Green Economy - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/how-tech-companies-can-support-the-green-economy"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Sun, 15 May 2022 17:00:00 +0000 Nick Stapleton 2177 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/how-tech-companies-can-support-the-green-economy#comments Why Should I Maintain My Data? https://futureofsourcing.com/why-should-i-maintain-my-data <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FoS%20Graphic%20%2810%29.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FoS%20Graphic%20%2810%29.png" title="data protection" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1924--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/FoS%20Graphic%20%2810%29.png?itok=U7ZnRHwA" width="624" height="325" alt="data protection" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <h1>Why Should I Maintain My Data?</h1> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/the-dangers-of-dirty-data-and-how-to-ensure-your-data-has-its-coat-on">The Dangers of Dirty Data and How to Ensure Your Data Has Its COAT on</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>So, you&rsquo;ve just shelled out big money to have it classified and your data will almost certainly be correct when you receive it, but it will only stay accurate for a short period of time.</p> <p>Updates and changes mean that before you know it, your once neat and tidy data sets will contain unclassified data, data that&rsquo;s been incorrectly classified, typos, and cut and paste errors, to name but a few. That is why, and I cannot emphasize this enough, it is crucial to maintain your data. Specifically, it is important that you continue to check and maintain your data for any errors that can have a knock-on effect to your bottom line.</p> <h2>What&rsquo;s the Big Deal?</h2> <p>Let&rsquo;s say you use IBM for IT services that cost around &pound;50k and you accidentally misclassify this spend as cleaning services. At the next refresh it&#39;s picked up and classified again, and it becomes &pound;100k and then the next refresh it becomes &pound;150k. You now have a major issue on your hands where you are counting your cleaning services spend as &pound;150k plus whatever you are actually spending on it. The problem worsens because you&#39;re now not counting the &pound;150k of IT spend with IBM.</p> <p>What does that mean? Well, you may have agreed to a contract with a cleaning supplier for &ldquo;&pound;X&rdquo; amount of spend based on that data. In reality it&#39;s maybe half of that. Then you might not be able to honor it or you find yourself in a situation where you have to pay it despite possibly not needing that service at all.&nbsp;</p> <p>On the flip side, you could be negotiating better rates with IBM based on usage of the product. However, that&rsquo;s impossible to realize when it&#39;s sitting under the wrong bucket, but that&#39;s something I can help with.&nbsp;</p> <h2>How Do I Maintain My Data?</h2> <p>The secret to keeping your data clean isn&rsquo;t really a huge secret. It&rsquo;s a case of good housekeeping.</p> <p>You need to check and maintain it regularly. In the same way you give your carpets a regular once-over with the vacuum, regularly checking in with your data makes life easier in the long run.</p> <p>Just like a weekly or twice weekly vacuum round the house, it&rsquo;s a smart idea to check in on your data on a monthly or quarterly basis. If you have a lot of data and a lot of inputs, you&rsquo;ll need to review it more frequently.</p> <p>This is still just as important even if you have a third-party supplier checking over your data. Spot-check your data occasionally to ensure your supplier is fulfilling their obligations. If your team is running the checks for you, make sure you check in with their progress once in a while to verify everyone is on board with the same standards and cleaning the data in the same way. It&rsquo;s also a good opportunity for highlighting development areas for your team.</p> <h2>How Frequently Should You Check Your Data?</h2> <p>Let&rsquo;s go back to that carpet analogy. Leaving your carpet for a week doesn&rsquo;t matter. It doesn&rsquo;t really matter if you leave it for a month (as long as you&rsquo;re OK living with dirty carpets). But leave that once fresh and spotless carpet too long and by the time you pull out your vacuum cleaner, your carpet will be beyond saving.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s the same with your data. Data that&rsquo;s not maintained will slowly become unusable over time. Incorrect or conflicting information will build up. AI outputs are corrupted. Since you can&rsquo;t afford to use bad data, you end up spending significant time or money to fix the problem. Ouch.</p> <p><strong>Regular Data Maintenance Means:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Better data accuracy for better business decisions.</li> <li>Avoiding a time-consuming and costly data clean-up operation (because your data won&rsquo;t slowly become corrupted).</li> <li>A better-trained and more-responsive data team. Doing a little bit of something regularly is always easier than doing a lot of it occasionally.</li> <li>An informal opportunity to stay in touch with the work your third-party supplier is doing.</li> </ul> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/data" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Data</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/data-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Data Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/data-protection" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Data Protection</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/data-privacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">data privacy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Why Should I Maintain My Data? - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/why-should-i-maintain-my-data"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 17 Feb 2021 20:32:38 +0000 Susan Walsh 1924 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/why-should-i-maintain-my-data#comments Sustainability and Notebook PCs: Behind the Scenes With TCO Certified https://futureofsourcing.com/sustainability-and-notebook-pcs-behind-the-scenes-with-tco-certified <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FoS%20Graphic%20%283%29%20%281%29.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FoS%20Graphic%20%283%29%20%281%29.png" title="Sustainability and Notebook PCs" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1916--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/FoS%20Graphic%20%283%29%20%281%29.png?itok=i7EoFqQT" width="624" height="325" alt="Sustainability and Notebook PCs" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/navigating-supply-chain-complexities-with-sustainability">Navigating Supply Chain Complexities With Sustainability </a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>IT products come with many social and environmental challenges. Conflict minerals, supply chain working conditions, hazardous substances, e-waste as well as the &nbsp;&ldquo;take, make, use dispose&rdquo; model of the linear economy demonstrate that the challenges and risks connected to our digital devices run wide and deep. Purchasers and users of technology are at the forefront of asking for better product options.</p> <p>There are two important sourcing aspects to consider: getting your sustainability priorities clear for vendors and making more informed product choices. TCO Certified is the independent sustainability certification for IT products and a leading decision support tool, providing robust sustainability criteria and independent verification of IT products for almost 30 years. Here, TCO Development, the organization behind TCO Certified, shares a behind-the-scenes look at how it&rsquo;s done.</p> <h1>Purchasers Hold the Key to Driving Sustainability</h1> <p>More than ever, sustainability is an integrated part of core business, which puts procurement at the forefront of delivering on targets for environmental, social and financial responsibility connected to products used in the organization.</p> <p>When it comes to IT hardware, the risks are significant. Buyers need to know that products are made responsibly with respect for human rights and worker safety in manufacturing. They also need more transparency around product content and how to reduce the environmental impact of computers and servers, for example. The challenge for purchasers is the complexity of both the IT supply chain and the products themselves, making these risks almost impossible to assess without specialist expertise.</p> <p>This is where external tools such as TCO Certified come in. Using TCO Certified helps purchasers achieve three main goals. Firstly, it&rsquo;s a clear signal to industry that sustainability matters. The primary driver of IT industry action on sustainability is demand from IT buyers.</p> <p>Secondly, the right combination of environmental and supply chain responsibility criteria provides purchasers with a way to cover sustainability aspects even in the manufacturing phase.</p> <p>Thirdly, and most importantly, it reduces risk of greenwash and reliance on unproven manufacturer claims. When an ecolabel or certification requires independent verification, this delivers vital proof to purchasers that the products they buy, and the factories where they&rsquo;re made, have been independently assessed and are included in a system of continued monitoring.</p> <h1>Increased Interest From Notebook PC Purchasers</h1> <p>TCO Certified has more than 3,500 certified products from over 25 brands and covers office IT products as well as data center hardware categories.</p> <p>Now, purchasers around the globe are starting to ask for more sustainable products. The fastest growing product category in TCO Certified is notebooks. In 2020 there was a 50% increase in new certified models compared to 2019, resulting in plenty of choice for purchasers. This demand is a direct effect of purchasers raising their voices and asking for IT products that take issues like climate, hazardous content and factory working conditions into account.</p> <h1>Declarations Are not Enough; Independent Verification Makes the Difference</h1> <p>With many labels, declarations and certifications on the market, it can be difficult to identify those that really make a difference. A good strategy is to avoid using declarations and look for certification that verifies compliance with criteria.</p> <p>Just checking the box is not enough. Real change happens when factories are visited, &nbsp;products are tested and materials analyzed. This should be done by an external independent party.</p> <p>The system of mandatory independent verification behind TCO Certified is the most robust on the market for IT products. Each year independent verifiers spend around 20,000 hours on assessments, product testing and factory social audits directly connected to certified models.</p> <p>For products certified according to TCO Certified, a social factory audit typically takes two to five days to complete, depending on the factory&rsquo;s size. Included in social factory audits are employee statements, observations and document reviews that verify factories are working in a structured way to comply with criteria for socially responsible manufacturing.</p> <p>If non-conformities are detected, an independent closure audit will later be conducted to verify that the non-conformities from the original audit have been corrected. A closure audit should confirm closure of the non-conformity within 12 months of the initial audit.</p> <p>TCO Certified criteria are updated every three years to ensure we meet the most pressing sustainability challenges on the market. By using TCO Certified as a purchaser, you enjoy the full benefit of the work we do in a free-to-use, global tool.</p> <h1>If You Want More Sustainable IT, Don&rsquo;t Think Utopia, but Do Something</h1> <p>The most important takeaway for IT purchasers is that we are a long way from fully sustainable IT products. Achieving a lifecycle that is truly regenerative and causes no negative impacts requires a long-term commitment to continuous improvement from industry, purchasers and experts alike.</p> <p>Our message to purchasers is simple &mdash; the more purchasers that make this commitment, the faster change happens. The good news is there are simple ways to get started. It doesn&rsquo;t have to be perfect, but it does need to be something!</p> <p>First, consider if you truly need a new product at all. Instead, try extending the life of the IT products you&rsquo;re already using. This is the single most important way to reduce the environmental footprint of your IT use. Upgrade and repair your products so they last longer. Used products are in high demand, so make use of the secondhand market and buy and sell your products there.</p> <div> <p>If you must buy a new product, choose ones that carry a sustainability certification that includes robust criteria and requires third-party verification. Select a durable product that can last longer. Avoid buying unrepairable electronics that you may risk having to throw away after a short usage time. Also think about climate compensating the e-waste footprint of your new product, either by recycling a product with a similar footprint or by purchasing the offsetting as a service.</p> <p>Finally, don&rsquo;t throw it out! Electronics contain valuable resources that can be reused. If it&rsquo;s not possible to reuse or sell your old products, take them to an electronics recycler or refurbisher.&nbsp;</p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sustainability" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sustainability</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supply-chain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supply Chain</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/risk-mitigation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Risk Mitigation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Sustainability and Notebook PCs: Behind the Scenes With TCO Certified - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/sustainability-and-notebook-pcs-behind-the-scenes-with-tco-certified"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 26 Jan 2021 17:17:03 +0000 Clare Hobby 1916 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/sustainability-and-notebook-pcs-behind-the-scenes-with-tco-certified#comments Seven Steps to Progressing Artificial Intelligence https://futureofsourcing.com/seven-steps-to-progressing-artificial-intelligence <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Artificial%20Intelligence%20%281%29%20%281%29.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Artificial%20Intelligence%20%281%29%20%281%29.png" title="With the explosive data growth today, increased computer processing power, and strengthened AI technology foundations, the time is now to make AI a competitive advantage for any organization." class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1873--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Artificial%20Intelligence%20%281%29%20%281%29.png?itok=nff0LsLS" width="624" height="325" alt="With the explosive data growth today, increased computer processing power, and strengthened AI technology foundations, the time is now to make AI a competitive advantage for any organization." title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/from-procurement-police-to-the-chief-partner-officer">From Procurement Police to the Chief Partner Officer</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h1>Artificial Intelligence and the Pandemic</h1> <p>Artificial Intelligence (AI) defines the 21st century, impacting and driving transformation across every business and industry. With the new norms thrust upon us due to the pandemic, businesses and industries have had to find ways to transform overnight. Previously, it may have taken several years for an organization to make an incremental change or improvement.</p> <p>In 2020, these same organizations had to pivot within days to weeks during the pandemic&#39;s onset to continue staying relevant and in business. These unexpected disruptions forced companies to look to AI to accelerate their migration to digital and experience-based business models.</p> <p>Forward-thinking leaders are adapting to digital and experience-based models sought by their internal and external stakeholders. Organizations are investing in AI adoption to create customized experiences, targeted products, and intelligent business processes. AI cannot be excluded from today&rsquo;s business discussions because it is no longer hype. It is here to stay. For organizations actively investing and incorporating it as part of their business strategy, the rewards are evident.</p> <h1>A Business Perspective on AI</h1> <p>AI offers improved approaches to examining various data sets to optimize plans and processes. These improvements can be used to manage sales, marketing, employees, and systems, to name a few. AI features can provide the premise for a higher automation level to enhance productivity for processes and the workforce.</p> <p>Every use case needs to be properly explored to ensure AI efforts and associated applications achieve their desired business results. Each AI application needs various tools and algorithms to achieve efficiency gains and successfully automate business processes. Automation is the only way an AI application will give you the vital information you depend upon for accurate and timely decision-making.&nbsp;</p> <p>The disruption is real. AI is sweeping across the business world, but the trail is long and winding. As such, the true test for an organization is to quickly devise a strategy for creating value from AI investments and identifying the landmines and risk management strategies.</p> <h1>Stepping Stones to AI Success</h1> <p>First, no general-purpose AI application exists. Each organization&rsquo;s AI journey is different. Choosing the right next-level AI application is a fundamental step towards propelling the organization forward on its AI maturity curve. So, how can we achieve this? These seven stepping stones will enable you to make well-informed plans for AI adoption:</p> <ol> <li><strong>Get Familiar with AI</strong></li> </ol> <p>AI is a continuous process of combining tools, techniques, and domain knowledge to solve business problems and streamline processes to deliver personalized experiences with efficiency and scale. As such, the primary step for progressing AI in a company is to get familiar with it by acquiring the right skills.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Briefly, AI is:</strong></p> <ul> <li>The art of applying machines to make intelligent, human-like decisions relying on evidence.</li> <li>Blending decisions with actions and data to automate human tasks and streamline end-to-end processes.&nbsp;</li> <li>Using machines to detect unique human attributes like standard dialects, speech patterns, and pictures.&nbsp;</li> <li>Simulating human insight by analyzing and acting on machine- and application-produced data.</li> </ul> <ol> <li value="2"><strong>Engage With AI Experts</strong></li> </ol> <p>To determine the most effective strategy for using AI in your business, use task analysis. The goal is to ensure that AI will reduce process complexity, minimize time to execute the process, and improve the end-user experience. Consequently, partnering with domain and AI talent is critical to prioritize AI business objectives, investments, and obstacles. The best partners are the ones who have embarked on implementing AI for their functional processes.</p> <p>These partners should be experienced in visioning, project planning, program management, process re-engineering, training, communications, end-user support, adoption monitoring, and ensuring the post-go-live success of AI applications. As a result, they are unmatched in comparison to break through perceived organizational, economic, and technological barriers that threaten to slow down AI progress. Leading companies often seek professional assistance for strategy, program management, and implementation of AI initiatives. All leaders should consider it to ensure a successful outcome.</p> <ol> <li value="3"><strong>Identify What Problems You Want AI to Solve</strong></li> </ol> <p>In addition to the use case, understand what the previous challenges in solving this problem were to grasp the obstacles the organization may have to overcome in using AI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Investigate various ways your organization wants to use AI to improve your overall business. Be open to new thoughts and different approaches to solving long-running problems. AI implementations prompt companies to rethink the rationale for existing processes and see if they still hold relevance when combined with AI.</p> <p>You may discover an AI-led process can eliminate redundant tasks. The key is to rethink the end-to-end process with the user experience in mind, leveraging AI&#39;s capabilities and how it can fit products and services to boost efficiency.&nbsp;</p> <p>The use case should demonstrate business value where AI can help eliminate an existing problem, improve process throughput, or automate service delivery with demonstrable results.</p> <ol> <li value="4"><strong>Build a Business Case to Successfully Deploy AI</strong></li> </ol> <ol style="list-style-type:lower-alpha;"> <li>Think of areas such as predictive maintenance, targeted sales and marketing, logistics optimization, procurement and supply chain personalization, and unified customer service experiences as areas where AI can bring value.</li> <li>Pick the right problems to solve, keeping in mind the AI application&#39;s cost and efforts to the long-term efficiency and competitive advantage it can bring.</li> <li>Bring aboard critical decision-makers in the organization to build a consensus and a shared vision for the long-term role AI technologies will play in the organization.</li> <li>Experiment. Start with a small project to measure AI applicability to a specific use case to deliver results.</li> <li>After an area of focus has been identified, collect data for training the AI algorithm. More data translates to a more accurate AI training model. Consequently, have enough investment available for data gathering efforts from various hotspots to develop a useful AI model.&nbsp;</li> <li>There will also be a need to corroborate that the collected data is not only unbiased but also rich in quality to determine data relevance. AI governance should be considered as a practice to eliminate biases and inefficiencies within the process cycle.&nbsp;</li> </ol> <p>To scale an AI pilot, consider:</p> <ul> <li>Incubating them in innovation labs or AI technology centers of excellence</li> <li>Leveraging the innovation network of technology and consulting partners</li> </ul> <ol> <li value="5"><strong>Evaluate</strong></li> </ol> <p>Once the organization has experimented with a small project, evaluate the outcomes with an objective mindset. What is the feasibility of AI deployment at a broader scale? Can the organization scale AI to add a financial value through improved efficiencies? What is the financial muscle and appetite for change within the organization? Are there enough C-suite champions and investments necessary to accomplish full-blown AI implementations to reap the benefits?</p> <p>Often, the evaluation stage is a tug of war. IT enthusiasts that want to push an AI initiative demonstrating its ability and cutting-edge results may find themselves up against skeptical process owners who are yet to understand how AI works.</p> <p>For this reason, transparency is vital. Equally, it&rsquo;s critical to have business domain experts with C-suite support participate as key stakeholders in the project and governance processes. Functional leaders must feel comfortable about broader AI adoption while understanding successes and flaws to manage the risk.&nbsp;</p> <p>It is AI experts&rsquo; responsibility to explain to business executives the ins and outs of AI. AI activities must be assessed and co-driven by both business and technical leaders to deliver functional, easy-to-deploy winning AI initiatives.</p> <ol> <li value="6"><strong>Gain Employee Trust and Support by Easing Concerns&nbsp; &nbsp;</strong></li> </ol> <p>Research indicates at least 60% of companies speculate most of their workers worry about AI&#39;s impact on potential job cuts, making employees apprehensive about working with new technologies or AI applications. These uncertainties fuel resistance to change and create a significant impediment to AI implementations.</p> <p>Clear this hurdle by involving employees and communicate progress throughout the journey. To ease their concerns:</p> <ul> <li>Provide training and programs to help employees have the data literacy to understand AI dashboards, reports, and analytics. This will increase their comfort level with AI technology.</li> <li>Communicate the positive effect AI will have on the employee and end-user experiences. For example, demonstrate how AI will reduce the mundane and repetitive tasks to free staff up to focus on more high-level activities.</li> </ul> <p>These strategies will grow your workforce&rsquo;s level of confidence with AI. Remember, both employees and AI applications are vital if we want to achieve the intended goals. Neither is dispensable.</p> <ol> <li value="7"><strong>Work With Domain Experts That Understand AI to Prepare Enterprise Data and Skills</strong></li> </ol> <p>Another component of AI is building or having a team of specialists that have domain expertise, understand AI, and are willing to drive the change and adoption. Even so, the biggest challenge facing AI implementations today is the lack of experts with the talent and skills necessary to scale. This explains why we need to continue supporting AI enthusiast domain experts to experiment further and expand AI.</p> <p>Each business will need the relevant data to train and test AI systems. Insufficient or irrelevant data is likely to compromise AI accuracy and relevancy. Accordingly, having the right data and skills within the organization are necessary to fully capture AI&rsquo;s benefits.</p> <p>To progress AI, keep these considerations in mind:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Discover</strong>: Craft the vision for what you want AI to achieve.&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Devise</strong>: Develop or select the right AI solution to experiment with a small-scale project.</li> <li><strong>Deploy and Sustain</strong>: Broaden the scope of AI for continuous transformation.</li> </ul> <h1>Final Thoughts</h1> <p>When it comes to digital pursuits in enterprises, the next revolutionary frontier is here with AI. While some organizations are still wobbling from previous technological disruptions, a new one is taking shape and will alter how we operate. AI will help improve or replace existing business processes, reduce errors, and broaden the level of automation for better business outcomes. Leading businesses that have already put AI into practice are poised to generate benefits through enhanced relationships, more efficiency, and higher revenues.</p> <p>Given AI&#39;s high capacity to handle and interpret data, the technology offers a range of opportunities to innovate business processes by augmenting their operational frameworks. AI can substantially increase automation, predict business outcomes, revamp customer management, and prevent fraud.&nbsp;</p> <p>With the explosive data growth today, increased computer processing power, and strengthened AI technology foundations, the time is now to make AI a competitive advantage for any organization.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/risk-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Risk Management</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/automation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Automation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/data" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Data</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supply-chain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supply Chain</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Seven Steps to Progressing Artificial Intelligence - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/seven-steps-to-progressing-artificial-intelligence"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Mon, 12 Oct 2020 16:02:35 +0000 Purvee Kondal 1873 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/seven-steps-to-progressing-artificial-intelligence#comments From Procurement Police to the Chief Partner Officer https://futureofsourcing.com/from-procurement-police-to-the-chief-partner-officer <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Chief%20Partner%20Officer%20%281%29.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Chief%20Partner%20Officer%20%281%29.png" title="Embrace a new norm and hope for a change that leads to transforming the Chief Procurement Officer role into a Chief Partner Officer." class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1870--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Chief%20Partner%20Officer%20%281%29.png?itok=y-mdOWwq" width="624" height="325" alt="Embrace a new norm and hope for a change that leads to transforming the Chief Procurement Officer role into a Chief Partner Officer." title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/the-case-for-changing-the-chief-procurement-officer-role">The Case for Changing the Chief Procurement Officer Role</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h1><strong>Cause and Effect of Past Practices</strong></h1> <p>To continue our <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/the-case-for-changing-the-chief-procurement-officer-role" target="_blank">discussion from Part 1</a>,&nbsp;let&#39;s consider the roles of cause and effect on evolving Procurement practices.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Suppose an organization installed a Finance procurement overseer that does not have domain or market knowledge. This overseer will not be well-positioned to lead innovation or transformation initiatives. As a result, broader stakeholder engagement will be needed to transform Procurement and align future metrics to create greater value.</p> <p>We must also recognize that if we have the unexperienced leading the unexperienced, our organizations will not be set up for success. However, in some Procurement functions (perhaps not yours), the inexperienced leading more experienced team members is even less sustainable.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h1><strong>Leadership Value Transformation&nbsp;</strong></h1> <p>As leaders, we have to self-reflect and become aware of the need to transform and not become the roadblocks holding our function or talented teams back. Using the stick instead of a carrot and a &quot;Whose fault is it?&quot; mindset makes you more likely to lose skilled Procurement talent. Instead of seeing new approaches as threats to the established &quot;compliance and control&quot; methods of Procurement, we need to look inward, adapt, learn, and lead from the front.</p> <p>Over recent years, a dramatic shift has been occurring whereby the business and market models are moving to As a Service, Managed Services, and Cloud. Prior to these market models, &quot;shadow IT&quot; was embraced by the business because the IT function had become too reactive and unable to effectively address business needs. These self-inflicted wounds resulted in many IT organizations growing transactional for &quot;keeping the lights on,&quot; instead of driving strategic business discussions.</p> <p>Procurement, now more than ever, faces a similar predicament. With business leaders embracing these market models for processes and functions, we have no choice but to get on with it. We can learn from our business partners&#39; experiences to help guide our teams in adding value so that we don&#39;t become lost in &quot;shadow Procurement.&quot;</p> <h1><strong>Creating New Norms and Embracing Market Shifts</strong></h1> <p>Procurement marketplaces, AI, and other approaches offer more effective means of solving these long-endured problems if the CPO can get on with the transformation. These market models have already started demonstrating more effective results and efficiencies than the traditional Procurement approaches. These models are here to stay with nowhere to go but up. Over the next 18 to 36 months, these Procurement models will continue to outperform on value delivery and performance that long-established Procurement practices cannot match or surpass. These new Procurement models will be on solid ground while still effectively managing organizational risk and compliance, pushing Procurement to transform.</p> <p>It is crucial to recognize that organizations have invested in the Procurement infrastructure that is now deeply rooted and widely accepted as the &quot;norm.&quot; The solution isn&#39;t necessarily to blow up the entire Procurement function. To improve inefficiencies resulting from the past incremental and just enough practices, Procurement will require vision and support to transform.&nbsp;</p> <p>First, we need to reflect by taking a step back on how our function and the CPO role can transform into becoming a Chief Partner Officer. We need to revisit how we hire, teach, and retain talent. We will need to review if we promote leaders with domain expertise, vision, and experience to lead the transformation. Organizations must have sufficient support with investments and refined metrics to drive partnerships across the organization.</p> <h1><strong>Transformational Procurement Leader for the Fourth Industrial Revolution</strong></h1> <p>Procurement transformation can only succeed with a leader that possesses a different type of expertise and approach. With AI, not having domain experts as decision-makers willing to be held accountable for process changes will be detrimental to the adoption of this emerging technology.</p> <p>If left unchecked, AI implementations will be rife with biases that have persisted in organizations and be ill equipped to streamline existing ineffective processes. Suppose AI is implemented merely as another tool for Procurement. In that case, it will not produce the highest benefits nor reduce the friction of poorly designed processes.</p> <p>When a functional leader lacks domain knowledge, they will be hard-pressed to simplify processes, reimagine to pivot, or transform to embrace newer business models or technologies. These insecurities often lead to an organization becoming hampered by politics and run on fear, which ultimately undermine Procurement&rsquo;s ability to run like a business. There are many improved ways to manage risk and compliance without sacrificing partnership and value-driven activities using AI and automation.&nbsp;</p> <p>There will be resistance to Procurement unless there is a collaborative partnership approach with the stakeholders, teams, and supplier community that places Procurement leaders at the helm. It will continue to be seen as a &quot;check the box&quot; function that is devoid of value-add by most, making it difficult for Procurement to gain a seat at the table.</p> <h1><strong>Determining Your Current State</strong></h1> <p>Suppose your organization has experienced Procurement challenges and is now seeking ways to transform. Start by reviewing the function carefully to ascertain:</p> <ul> <li>What is the perception of Procurement in the organization and its effectiveness?</li> <li>What are the Procurement metrics? How have they evolved?</li> <li>How do Procurement metrics take into consideration market dynamics?</li> <li>Are there well-defined, clear, and transparent career paths for all Procurement roles?</li> <li>What are the learning and training investments made for the Procurement teams?</li> <li>Does the Procurement function have processes that are agile, proactive, and focused on the partnership?</li> <li>When was the last time Procurement processes were reviewed, optimized, or transformed?&nbsp;</li> <li>How much automation across the process lifecycle exists in your Procurement function?</li> <li>Do the Procurement processes have self-service and customer-centered capabilities across the end-to-end process value chain beyond shifting Procurement administrative responsibilities to the stakeholders and calling it self-service? For example, think about what else one can do beyond request a purchase order, gain system-based approvals, or approve invoices on the PO system for compliance control.</li> <li>How much of the self-service and automation capabilities focus on the stakeholder user needs and not just the Procurement user?</li> <li>Are automation and self-service designed with the user experience of all personas in mind?</li> </ul> <p>What should you do if you find answers to any or all of these to be unsatisfactory? Carefully examine Procurement leadership to understand their motivations or lack thereof to evolve the function. Between this pandemic-induced pause requiring all areas to form new norms and the coming age of AI, Procurement should have no choice but to transform. However, to gain support from its internal and external stakeholders, a few rules will need to be rewritten.</p> <h1><strong>Finding a Path Forward</strong></h1> <p>Imagine a world where sales and Procurement processes are transparent, consistent, and set up to remove biases and distrust that currently exists in the cycle. Inefficiencies, bureaucracies, and risks would fall to the wayside. Additionally, metrics and reporting relationship restructuring can help to transform Procurement. So, let&#39;s make a case for shifting focus to grooming Chief Partner Officers who are willing to self-reflect, adapt, and continuously learn.</p> <p>Led by AI, the fourth industrial revolution will push organizations and functions to adapt substantially. As skillfully articulated by&nbsp;<a href="https://in.linkedin.com/in/tnvora" target="_blank">Tanmay Vora</a>&nbsp;and his team, transformation will require a leadership&nbsp;<a href="https://qaspire.com/2015/11/23/mindset-shifts-for-organizational-transformation/">mindset shift</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="Procurement stands to have the most impactful transformation for an organization. " src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/leadership%20mindset%20shift.jpg" style="width: 650px; height: 919px;" /></p> <p align="center">&nbsp;</p> <p>If done correctly, Procurement stands to have the most impactful transformation for an organization. The Procurement function can still be relevant in the upcoming age of AI and the experience-based economy if we choose to lead the transformation.</p> <p>For a Procurement function to be &quot;its best self,&quot; it requires shifting the role to becoming a Chief Partner Officer who is a visionary and ready to lead from the front. Our metrics should be reflective of the partnership value achieved and end-to-end process transformation.</p> <p>To thrive in the digital and experience economy, visionary leaders focus on these foundational tenets to embrace transformation:</p> <ul> <li>Reimagining the scope and responsibilities of Procurement</li> <li>Adapting newer business models, such as digital procurement marketplaces</li> <li>Leveraging emerging technologies, such as AI and blockchain, to free up our teams to focus on strategic initiatives</li> <li>Embracing automation to speed up transactional tasks</li> <li>Creating the end-to-end Procurement process lifecycle with all user personas in mind</li> <li>Simplifying and designing the end-to-end process with emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain in mind instead</li> <li>Moving from being process and compliance police to becoming a partner</li> </ul> <h1><strong>Future Procurement Leadership Qualities</strong></h1> <p>Transforming Procurement will require leaders who are secure in their skills, operate from the foundation of trust and support, plus can partner with their teams and stakeholders. Procurement and stakeholder teams have been breathlessly waiting for this function to transform. This is only possible if we can shift the role from being a Chief Budgeting Officer to a Chief Partner Officer mindset with fresh metrics for accountability and performance.</p> <p>A Chief Partner Officer will be invaluable to an organization and effortlessly bring improvements to its top and bottom lines. This leadership style will make the function more scalable to meet the organization&#39;s demands, improve transparency, and reduce cycle time to manage risk and compliance more effectively. When there is a genuine intent to increase transparency, efficiencies, and automation, there will be additional support from stakeholders to benefit everyone involved for mutual success.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The transformation of Procurement will spur improvements in other business areas. To reap the full benefits, Procurement transformation that includes people, processes, and automation must be part of the dialogue.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h1><strong>Final Thoughts on Transforming Procurement</strong></h1> <p>To gauge Procurement engagement and sentiment, I welcome participation in this&nbsp;<a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YTL7HJ3" target="_blank">Sourcing Industry Group&nbsp;poll</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>It is inspiring to hear success stories where the Procurement organization value delivery changed using strategic and partnership-driven metrics and where stakeholders became advocates of Procurement for others embarking on this journey. It would be great to hear success stories of when adequate investments to automate the end-to-end Procurement process lifecycle helped propel the Procurement organization forward.</p> <p>So, let&#39;s turn a leaf while embracing a new norm and hope for a change that leads to transforming the Chief Procurement Officer role into a Chief Partner Officer!</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/chief-procurement-officer-cpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chief Procurement Officer (CPO)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/business-process-automation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Business Process Automation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/blockchain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Blockchain</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="From Procurement Police to the Chief Partner Officer - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/from-procurement-police-to-the-chief-partner-officer"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 09 Oct 2020 19:55:49 +0000 Purvee Kondal 1870 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/from-procurement-police-to-the-chief-partner-officer#comments Sourcing Strategies for the New Normal https://futureofsourcing.com/sourcing-strategies-for-the-new-normal <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Sourcing%20Strategies%20for%20the%20New%20Normal%20%281%29.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Sourcing%20Strategies%20for%20the%20New%20Normal%20%281%29.png" title="The sourcing roadmap can also help executives define strategies around Artificial Intelligence and digital capabilities, and how innovation initiatives can meet evolving needs. " class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1843--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Sourcing%20Strategies%20for%20the%20New%20Normal%20%281%29.png?itok=ypt3b4IU" width="624" height="325" alt="The sourcing roadmap can also help executives define strategies around Artificial Intelligence and digital capabilities, and how innovation initiatives can meet evolving needs. " title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/how-automation-helps-bpo-providers-thrive-in-all-business-climates">How Automation Helps BPO Providers Thrive in All Business Climates</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>When the COVID-19 global pandemic struck, businesses faced the task of rapidly shifting office-based employees to remote environments. Today, the primary focus is on managing these makeshift workplace models more efficiently. In the process, long-term initiatives &nbsp;&nbsp;are now on the back burner. &nbsp;</p> <p>Indeed, tactical initiatives aimed at enhancing existing operations remain a top priority. That said, savvy leaders are looking ahead and defining key elements of a sourcing strategy roadmap that can address the future requirements of a continually evolving and uncertain New Normal.</p> <h1>Immediate Needs</h1> <p>The procurement and configuration of laptops and mobile devices for home-based users was a cornerstone of the transition to remote work. In many cases, this vast undertaking exposed some fundamental underlying performance gaps. Service desks were often ill-equipped to handle the increased volume of incidents resulting from users struggling to activate devices and load applications.</p> <p>One reason was that agents were themselves in lockdown and lacked access to needed tools. Also, in-house support teams tend to be <a href="https://blog.usclaro.com/Blogs/The-Pandemic-One-More-Reason-to-Outsource-End-User-Support" target="_blank">less mature</a> in terms of process discipline around incident management, relying instead on &ldquo;shoulder tapping&rdquo; and ad-hoc problem-solving. While adequate (if sub-optimal) under normal circumstances, the strains of the pandemic rendered this approach untenable. As a result, many IT organizations continue to struggle with dropped service desk calls and support delays.</p> <p>The rush to remote work also disrupted hardware refresh and lifecycle servicing. Deferring scheduled updates resulted in dated equipment. This further increased Level One Service Desk call volumes and compounded the existing challenges around providing fully remote support. While Zoom meetings have become a symbol of the pandemic, a rush to integrate and lack of user training have resulted in collaboration tools rarely fulfilling their functionality potential.</p> <p>More ominously, delayed updates of anti-virus programs heightened security risks. For example, healthcare organizations &ndash; particularly mid-sized to small hospitals &ndash; have always been attractive targets and are especially vulnerable now. Cybercriminals have stepped up their attacks during the pandemic, and some hospitals report up to 10,000 attempted intrusions per week. Retailers, financial services firms and other industries handling sensitive data from home offices are similarly threatened.</p> <h1>Sourcing Strategies for Today and Beyond</h1> <p>At present, outsourcing strategies should focus primarily on short-term initiatives aimed at addressing the problems related to the shift to remote work. Specifically, technology partners should apply their resources to put out the various fires smoldering (if not raging) throughout their customers&rsquo; business enterprises.&nbsp; Service providers can pick up the slack on delayed hardware refresh and upgrades, and put basic processes around mobile device management.</p> <p>Staff augmentation can plug gaps in internal service desks and support network and application maintenance. Tools and process expertise can identify, prioritize and mitigate mission-critical security risks. The question for both clients and their providers should be: &ldquo;What can we do <em>right now</em> to address critical risks and enhance service delivery and support for end-users?&rdquo;</p> <p>While necessary given the urgency of the current situation, this reactive mindset is not sustainable over the long run. But while focusing on keeping the lights on, businesses can at the same time identify and document gaps in capabilities, resources and maturity that pose obstacles to operational excellence and a quality customer experience.</p> <p>These lessons learned can inform steps toward a long-term strategy aimed at designing, implementing and managing a new operational ecosystem &ndash; one capable of meeting the challenges of an uncertain future.</p> <h1>Forming an Operational Roadmap</h1> <p>Formal assessments of local area networks, security postures and service desks can lay a basic foundation for a strategic roadmap. Once they have the necessary bandwidth, business leaders and project teams can apply this roadmap to define broader sourcing strategies regarding what to farm out and what to keep in-house. Functions such as end-user and deskside support, hardware refresh and network management can be candidates for outsourcing.&nbsp;</p> <p>Mobility-as-a-Service models can be well-suited to flexible work arrangements. Given the challenges in-house teams face in keeping pace with constantly evolving risks and attracting and retaining scarce talent, a managed security services solution can be attractive.</p> <p>The sourcing roadmap can also help executives define strategies around Artificial Intelligence and digital capabilities, and how innovation initiatives can meet evolving needs. Specifically, robust remote access and service capabilities will be essential; whatever the post-pandemic new normal looks like, home-based work in some form or another will likely remain a mainstay of operational models for some time.</p> <h1>What&rsquo;s Next?</h1> <p>Beyond the basics of supporting remote work, sourcing strategies must address the myriad complexities that will lie ahead. For example, if and when office buildings fully reopen, how will distancing and hygiene policies be defined and enforced &ndash; and what role will IT organizations play? If businesses operate in shifts, what criteria will determine who goes to the office and who works remotely?</p> <p>If, as seems likely, schools will not reopen on full-time in-class schedules, how will businesses accommodate working parents? Service providers will have to be nimble, flexible and responsive to help their customers tackle these questions.</p> <p>The good news is that many IT executives are finding that 2021 budget requests are falling on favorable ears, and that funding will likely be available not only for next year&rsquo;s projects but for longer-term initiatives as well.&nbsp; To take advantage of the opportunity, businesses and their technology partners should start looking ahead today &ndash; even as they remain focused on the immediate tasks at hand.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/remote-work" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">remote work</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/outsourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Outsourcing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Sourcing Strategies for the New Normal - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/sourcing-strategies-for-the-new-normal"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 04 Sep 2020 16:38:57 +0000 Todd Seiple 1843 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/sourcing-strategies-for-the-new-normal#comments It’s Time for IT to Transition to a Circular Economy https://futureofsourcing.com/its-time-for-it-to-transition-to-a-circular-economy <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Sustainable%20IT.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Sustainable%20IT.png" title="Sustainable Information Technology IT" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1820--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Sustainable%20IT.png?itok=jCqlwsJR" width="624" height="325" alt="Sustainable Information Technology IT" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><em>To meet both climate and budget goals, we need to use our laptops longer.</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/the-growing-business-criticality-of-a-sustainable-supply-chain">The Growing Business Criticality of a Sustainable Supply Chain</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>With greater attention on sustainability and the direct need to meet climate goals, purchasers are looking for ways to change. One place to start is with the 170 million notebook computers produced and sold around the world every year. Rethinking an organization&rsquo;s purchase and use of IT products like those notebooks can dramatically cut an organization&rsquo;s carbon footprint &ndash; and save money - without affecting performance.</p> <p>The current way of purchasing, using, and disposing of IT products is the legacy of a linear economy, where natural resources are used to create products that are in use only a short time before they must be disposed of as waste. Many organizations are transitioning to what&rsquo;s known as a circular economy, where products are kept in use for as long as possible, to save resources, retain value and minimize waste. It&rsquo;s a challenging transition that requires changing the way organizations source IT equipment.</p> <p>The typical IT contract is based on a three- to four-year use cycle. At the end of each cycle, some organizations turn to recycling their products, seeing it as a responsible way to dispose of them. But, in reality, only about 20% of global e-waste actually reaches controlled recycling facilities, and a minimal amount of materials included in notebooks and other IT products can be recovered in the recycling process. The rest may end up in a landfill, incinerated or illegally exported to regions where e-waste legislation is weak or non-existent.</p> <h1>If recycling isn&rsquo;t the solution, then what is?</h1> <p>TCO Certified, the leading global sustainability certification for IT products, uses independent verification to assess IT products like displays, notebooks, tablets and smartphones against a rigorous set of sustainability criteria. The organization behind TCO Certified recently studied certified laptops from major manufacturers like Dell, Lenovo and HP in order to measure their environmental impact. Key findings of the study included four ways to help purchasers reduce climate impact and save money:</p> <ol> <li>Buy a durable, upgradeable laptop and use it as long as you can</li> <li>Extend the useful life of your laptop by two years</li> <li>Buying a new, energy-efficient model doesn&rsquo;t pencil out</li> <li>When you&rsquo;re finished with equipment, donate or re-sell</li> </ol> <p>According to the research, the carbon footprint of a standard 14-inch laptop is around 660 pounds, equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions produced by driving a car about 742 miles. Almost 80% of those emissions are produced during the manufacturing phase. So, using the notebook longer will help reduce average annual emissions. For example, according to the research, when a notebook is replaced every six years instead of every four, organizations reduce emissions by 30%.</p> <h1>In Search of Sustainability</h1> <p>Some organizations may explore purchasing newer, energy-efficient notebooks after a standard IT purchase cycle to increase energy efficiency. But sticking with their current models longer offers a far greater reduction in environmental impact. According to the research, purchasing a new and more energy-efficient product will not cut total greenhouse gas emissions, even if the new product is used for a very long time. If energy efficiency improves by 10% between two generations, the new notebook must be used for more than 30 years before the efficiency of the product has made up for the emissions produced during the manufacturing phase.</p> <p>For most users who work with standard software programs, notebook computers may function well for six years or longer without upgrades to hardware such as hard drives, memory or battery. So, the more organizations choose to buy durable products that are possible to repair and upgrade, the more significant the environmental impact will be. When purchasers select high-performance products, the lifespans are even longer and are also more attractive on the secondhand market.</p> <p>Not only is extending the life of IT products dramatically better for the environment, but it can also be far less expensive. The research shows extending the life of a complete computer work station from three to six years can save an organization 28%. When organizations do transition to new products, they can also create new income by selling their higher-performing used models.</p> <p>To reach sustainability and climate goals, every organization and every industry must evaluate their purchases and supply chains and seek ways to reduce their use of new material. IT products are an easy place to start.&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sustainability" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sustainability</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sustainable-development-goals-sdg" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/social-sustainability" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Social Sustainability</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/circularity" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Circularity</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/circular-economy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Circular Economy</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="It&amp;rsquo;s Time for IT to Transition to a Circular Economy - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/its-time-for-it-to-transition-to-a-circular-economy"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 23 Jul 2020 20:44:57 +0000 Clare Hobby 1820 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/its-time-for-it-to-transition-to-a-circular-economy#comments The Cyber Skills Gap isn’t Going Anywhere and Businesses Need to Adapt https://futureofsourcing.com/the-cyber-skills-gap-isnt-going-anywhere-and-businesses-need-to-adapt <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2829%29.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2829%29.png" title="Cybersecurity Talent" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1749--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2829%29.png?itok=6CjaNXYd" width="624" height="325" alt="Cybersecurity Talent" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/understanding-the-data-security-compliance-and-customer-experience-trends-shaping-your-business-in">Understanding the Data Security, Compliance and Customer Experience Trends Shaping Your Business in 2020</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>The constant cyber threat has completely changed the way boards around the world approach risk. A robust cybersecurity posture is no longer a &ldquo;nice-to-have&rdquo; but a business priority, especially at a time of almost pervasive threats. As the need to protect customer data grows, business leaders have been attempting to work out how best to respond to this new reality, and, most importantly, whose responsibility it should be.</p> <p>Recently, <a href="https://www.marlinhawk.com/the-ciso-in-2020/" target="_blank">Marlin Hawk commissioned a report into the evolving role of the CISO</a> (Chief Information Security Officer) and the challenges they face in an ever-changing landscape. The report analyzed responses from 500 cybersecurity executives working in businesses with 500 or more employees across the US, Europe and APAC.</p> <h1>Isolated and Overworked&nbsp;</h1> <p>Two-thirds of respondents revealed that they are struggling to recruit senior cybersecurity talent. The majority put this down to candidates lacking the right level of technical knowledge or experience to fulfill the increasing demands of the role.</p> <p>The talent shortage is particularly prevalent in the APAC region, where 91% say they find it challenging to find the right talent. However, it is clear that this is a global issue as 61% in the U.K. and 54% in the U.S. admitted to having the same problems with recruitment.</p> <p>Broadly across sectors, the consensus is that the cybersecurity talent shortage isn&rsquo;t going anywhere. In fact, 62% believe that the situation will deteriorate over the next five years. As a result, this has created an active recruitment market as overworked CISOs become more and more frustrated with their workload and the lack of the support they have from the board. The report also found that 85% of senior cybersecurity professionals are either actively looking for a new role themselves, or would consider one if approached.&nbsp;</p> <p>With this in mind, businesses should be reorganizing their priorities and focusing their efforts on providing the necessary support to nurture and retain the talent they already have. The challenge now is for their boards and business leaders to work out how to show these senior cybersecurity professionals that they&rsquo;re valued, and work out how to integrate them into strategic business decisions while navigating a dramatic global talent shortage.</p> <h1>Adapt to Survive</h1> <p>According to Ron Green, CISO at Mastercard, machine learning and automation have a crucial role to play in taking the pressure off current and future CISOs.</p> <p>He explains: &quot;We&rsquo;re going to need solutions that can help the humans get away from more of the routine problem-solving and take it off of their plate so that they can work on the more difficult tasks. Businesses are still going to need smart humans on security but already, the humans that are in our security operations centers are being overwhelmed with things they have to monitor. You can&#39;t simply keep putting in more people because there aren&#39;t enough people already.&quot;</p> <p>Cybersecurity threats are real and the size of the challenges still to come are large. Many businesses have invested heavily in digital transformation to improve productivity without considering the consequences. From the 1980s when technology began replacing traditional trading floors to the advances of e-commerce in today&#39;s world, cyber poses possibly the biggest risk to human and financial security now and in the future.</p> <p>Given that cybersecurity professionals are the last line of defense against this threat, now is the time for businesses to invest properly in support of the role, whether that&rsquo;s through appropriate technologies or by giving it more weight as an area of the business. We may even see CISOs move into the role of Chief Risk Officer or CIO, with the latter taking cybersecurity into account when creating strategic plans for their organization&rsquo;s IT infrastructure. With heightened awareness around data protection, it&rsquo;s probable that in 2020 we&rsquo;ll see this start to happen, as board directors attempt to work out how to value these senior cybersecurity professionals.</p> <p>Indeed, we may even see the CISO&rsquo;s role begin to be subsumed into other areas of organizations, especially as the younger generation of cybersecurity professionals continue to emerge with a blend of technical abilities and strategic thinking. These younger people may use their skills to take ownership of the cyber defensive posture, but also to inform their organization&rsquo;s overall tech strategy.</p> <p>One thing is for certain; 2020 is going to be an important year for the world of cybersecurity and those working&nbsp;<span data-contrast="auto" style="font-size: 13.008px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">within it. The threats will continue to evolve, as will those whose job it is to counter them.</span><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">&nbsp;</span></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/cybersecurity" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cybersecurity</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-transformation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Transformation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="The Cyber Skills Gap isn&amp;rsquo;t Going Anywhere and Businesses Need to Adapt - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/the-cyber-skills-gap-isnt-going-anywhere-and-businesses-need-to-adapt"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Mon, 27 Apr 2020 14:08:41 +0000 John-Claude Hesketh 1749 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/the-cyber-skills-gap-isnt-going-anywhere-and-businesses-need-to-adapt#comments How Executives Achieve Alignment To Drive IT Deal Negotiations https://futureofsourcing.com/how-executives-achieve-alignment-to-drive-it-deal-negotiations <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2819%29.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2819%29.png" title="IT Deal Negotiations" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1736--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2819%29.png?itok=weWgaeX_" width="624" height="325" alt="IT Deal Negotiations" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><em>We sat down with veteran IT deal maker and senior vendor management executive Purvee Kondal to discuss making more strategic IT deals. Excerpts of the conversation follow.</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/ai-is-ready-to-transform-procurement-but-is-procurement-ready-for-ai">AI is ready to transform procurement, but is procurement ready for AI?</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h1>What&rsquo;s the biggest challenge in IT deal-making?</h1> <p>Understanding ownership of the process, and what role everyone is playing. This must be clear from the outset. Some organizations are not relationship-driven and rely on the top person, relegating the rest of the team to the sideline. This presents problems, because the team is only involved at the last minute, and by then, it&rsquo;s too late for them to be effective.</p> <p>Without a sustained focus on internal collaboration, your stakeholders will never know what a good deal looks like. One group might have a vested interest in a vendor, and one group might only want three things &ndash; like performance, scalability and speed.&nbsp; Another group might want to reduce cost. They do not see the big picture. It bears mentioning that the vendors themselves are stakeholders, too. When organizations don&rsquo;t have a consistent approach to deal-making, they don&rsquo;t know who or what to focus on.</p> <p>It all boils down to creating enterprise-level governance &ndash; a solid and repeatable process &ndash; before any deal starts. This process helps you take the pulse of the relationships and helps everyone understand their roles and responsibilities to achieve a common goal.</p> <h1>Who is or should be doing the IT deal-making?</h1> <p>The truth is that a lot of companies focus on asking the question if IT should do the deal-making, or if it&rsquo;s procurement, sourcing or VMO? The real answer is that it depends on your organizational setup as not everyone operates in the same manner, so it doesn&rsquo;t matter where it occurs.&nbsp; Ultimately, the recognition that it will require a strong partnership between a lot of people with various expertise to drive the right IT deal.</p> <h1>Which constituency &nbsp;&ndash; vendors or stakeholders &nbsp;&ndash; &nbsp;is more difficult to manage, and why?</h1> <p>Internal executives are harder to manage. But when there are clearly defined roles among IT, sourcing, finance and the business units, and those roles are clear to everyone else, there&rsquo;s fewer issues.&nbsp; I can&rsquo;t overstate how essential it is to have transparency of everyone&rsquo;s roles and responsibilities.&nbsp; Vendors need to clearly understand who they are dealing with. If you&rsquo;ve got a good governance process in place, you will treat all vendors in an equal manner.&nbsp; Then you can run a good RFP and prevent the vendors from trying to go around you. In other words, transparency among stakeholders begets transparency among vendors.</p> <p>Vendor management and negotiations become difficult when there&rsquo;s a sense of distributed ownership of the deal, but they tend to fall in line when they understand how your organization likes to do business.</p> <p>Vendors do not set out to railroad you. If you enable them to understand your organization&rsquo;s process, and approach deals as a partnership, you can focus them on your agenda. The transparency of both sides is needed.</p> <p>Once you know exactly what you can and cannot share with them, you can provide transparency &nbsp;&ndash; &nbsp;especially as changes arise &ndash; so they can clearly understand your needs and your processes.</p> <h1>What have you done to effectively improve stakeholder alignment in the organizations you&rsquo;ve worked for?</h1> <p>Building good relationships with my internal stakeholders and gaining their trust has allowed them to see me as a partner who adds value. I get them to value my function and my team&rsquo;s capabilities.&nbsp; This requires expertise &nbsp;&ndash; &nbsp;I need to know more than they know &ndash; but not too much more!</p> <p>IT spending and vendor management expertise is hard to come by and how you approach things is a balancing act. You need a value statement for the key stakeholders that helps them all &ndash; &nbsp;especially the key decision-makers &nbsp;&ndash; &nbsp;but understand what you bring to the table. Buying IT is not like buying desk fixtures for the organization. With IT spends, there&rsquo;s usually a disconnect. The CIO values different things than the technology or finance or operations stakeholder. You need a value statement that resolves this disconnect and addresses business needs.</p> <p>Building good relationships with vendors is equally important, because their success is my success, too. When they try to create multiple points of entry into the organization, they&rsquo;re just trying to find who&rsquo;s the most appropriate person to deal with.&nbsp; Sometimes they end up spinning their wheels on something that&rsquo;s only important to one person instead of staying focused on the big picture. This is preventable if you build good relationships based on trust and transparency.</p> <h1>What are the biggest challenges regarding vendor management?</h1> <p>The first one is incumbency. Changing vendors is hard to do and selecting a new one is not something anyone enters lightly. Because of this, it&rsquo;s important to have a process in place that ensures vendors continue to provide the right solution competitively and that there is an identifying mechanism and &nbsp;backup plan for when incumbents aren&rsquo;t optimal for your changing business needs.&nbsp; This calls for strong governance that improves transparency internally across the organization.</p> <p>I think governance rests on five pillars: risk, performance, relationships, financials and the contract.&nbsp; The big one for me is risk, in all different areas: operational, financial, security and market-driven. You can&rsquo;t manage every risk for every vendor all the time,; you&rsquo;ve got to prioritize, and with the right governance discipline, you can do it. If you fail to manage this, you will suffer incumbency indefinitely.</p> <p>The second challenge is the fact that a lot of the vendors focus on short-term sales. Many of these companies change sales reps like I change clothes, so they don&rsquo;t understand your long-term plans and get to know your business.&nbsp; They&rsquo;re in it from quarter to quarter. They are driven to make the quick sale rather than helping you create a long-term pipeline with a view of where things can go in the future.</p> <p>The third thing is that the vendor&rsquo;s staff is trained to go to highest level possible in the enterprise, and they divide and conquer. This makes for a lot of short-sighted transactions.</p> <p>These challenges can only be mitigated by internal alignment. One of the things I have heard time and again is misalignment usually comes from miscommunication and having disassociated goals.&nbsp; For executives, it means to be setting up their teams for success without their needing to be there.&nbsp; This is achieved by providing their teams with processes and tools that better facilitate transparency and collaboration. When internal stakeholders are working as partners and one unit with equal stakes in making the project successful, they co-direct the vendor instead of competing for lead status. Executive leaders too, must let their team play their roles and enable them to add value.</p> <p>Very often, a stakeholder will feel that an incumbent has worked well for a long time, and there&rsquo;s no need to work on transparency or the relationship. That&rsquo;s when the CIO has to move people around to evolve the relationship and revisit the subject of efficiencies.</p> <p>A final thought on incumbency complacency: vendors must demonstrate where they add value too, and they don&rsquo;t do always do a very good job here.</p> <h1>How can VMO teams help make a difference?</h1> <p>First and foremost, creating a line of trust with the business and IT team to help them see you as a value-added partner and not just red tape while still managing risk and compliance. It&rsquo;s a balancing act. However, through trust and collaboration, the function can take a seat at the table for being able to be a sounding board and provide an independent perspective on perception vs. reality of a situation. It always helps when you can provide a fresh point of view as the stakeholder may be buying a product or service infrequently. &ndash; They don&rsquo;t have a pulse on the market or how the vendor is operating across various activities in your organization. The biggest benefit is the current and considerable knowledge of what the market looks like today &ndash; not five years ago and their performance for your entire organization.</p> <p>They can provide a snapshot of the current market, identify the key levers in a given deal, and help the business achieve leverage with our suppliers. They are empowered and enabled to become an extension &ndash; a trusted partner &ndash; in the organizational strategic deal-making. They can validate the business or IT team decision-making and keep the organization from making some big mistakes.</p> <h1>How do you make sure your best practices are followed by overseas stakeholders in the organization?</h1> <p>The trick here is to educate our global colleagues, not preach at them. We strive to keep them informed of what we&rsquo;re doing and how we do things, so they feel involved. We keep them apprised of the deals we&rsquo;re making, and the specific deal points. We encourage them to get outside training, too, and give them access to conferences to help them understand the complicated vendors.</p> <p>We want them to have a sense that we&rsquo;re on the journey with them, so we have regular communication checkpoints and update them on large global deals that involve or impact them. It can be difficult because confidentiality is required and there can be information leaks. You have to have proper governance to do this successfully. There are also a lot of differences among cultures that must be learned.To get it right, your team makeup needs to include those that truly understand what needs to be considered, how to message and what&rsquo;s important to them. You need to use different styles and approaches, depending on where you&rsquo;re doing business.</p> <h1>In an earlier white paper (How to Build a VMO), you talk about how a strategic VMO &ldquo;oversees value creation &hellip; and prevents of value loss.&rdquo; Can you elaborate?</h1> <p>First and foremost, overseeing value creation includes understanding who your key stakeholders are in the deal, what&rsquo;s important to them and how they will measure success, aligning the stakeholders to the bigger picture and driving a deal that achieves the value that was desired. It&rsquo;s more than merely driving the process of the deal execution but rather contributing expertise and knowledge that brings value to the deal itself. Now, doing the deal &nbsp;is not good enough since once a deal is signed, there can be value leakage since vendors inevitably come in and try to build onto the contract.&nbsp; You need to practice strong contract management as part of the VMO to prevent this. This requires you to constantly look to the vendor to make your IT environment better if they want you to grow your business with them. Vendors can bring innovation &ndash; and you can structure your contract to require it.&nbsp; Good governance means the vendor is doing everything they can to earn your business.</p> <p>The CIO doesn&rsquo;t necessarily know everything that the VMO knows, such as how tough some vendors can be. They are focused on getting the most points of entry into and information out of your organization &ndash; they divide and conquer. This requires a disciplined focus on key supplier relationships and insistence on transparency. And it requires vigilance about internal alignment &ndash; again, stakeholder collaboration based on strong relationships, supported by a consistent process.</p> <p>It behooves the VMO to figure out how to make the vendor successful. This is challenging because lots of times, stakeholders show little interest in the vendor&rsquo;s perspective or success. Furthermore, once the sales team is gone, it&rsquo;s the vendor delivery team who comes in to make everything work. If the relationship is not strong and transparent, it can be disastrous for the delivery team. Now they have to learn your organization, but they don&rsquo;t have a good pulse on what was negotiated, or what was the mindset behind the deal. They&rsquo;re left holding the bag.</p> <p>For me, stakeholder alignment is the linchpin. It will prevent a deal from going sideways; it&rsquo;s fundamental to getting a good deal.</p> <h1>Where should a VMO sit and how can it demonstrate value?</h1> <p>Truthfully, any function should report to a leader where the value is understood and the efforts are recognized. If a function is constantly being asked to demonstrate the value of it, chances are that it&rsquo;s either not sitting in the right area. Alternatively perhaps the value statement is only process-focused and not outcome-focused. Or sometimes, organizational structure and roles aren&rsquo;t clearly defined, leading to multiple people with similar skillsets getting involved in the deal-making,creating ineffective deal-making scenario. Good and effective leaders are less concerned about where a function like VMO sits but rather focuses on how leveraging the talented pool of resources across the organization can create effective governance and win together.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/negotiation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Negotiation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/best-practices" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Best Practices</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/vendor-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vendor Management</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="How Executives Achieve Alignment To Drive IT Deal Negotiations - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/how-executives-achieve-alignment-to-drive-it-deal-negotiations"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Sun, 05 Apr 2020 22:20:20 +0000 Purvee Kondal 1736 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/how-executives-achieve-alignment-to-drive-it-deal-negotiations#comments Information Technology Procurement as a Service – Added Value to Internal Procurement Teams https://futureofsourcing.com/information-technology-procurement-as-a-service-added-value-to-internal-procurement-teams <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Information%20Technology_PAAS.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Information%20Technology_PAAS.jpg" title="Information Technology Procurement as a Service – Added Value to Internal Procurement Teams" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1651--bGXWmdevLU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Information%20Technology_PAAS.jpg?itok=Dl3g-hoK" width="578" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>The Procurement as a Service (PaaS) model, which utilizes <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/mind-the-skills-gap" target="_blank">outsourced human talent</a>, technology, and industry-specific knowledge to enhance or &ndash; &nbsp;in some cases for SMB companies &ndash; &nbsp;replace the buying process for companies is expected to grow from $5.4 billion in 2019 to $7.8 billion by 2024, according to new market research by MarketsandMarkets&trade;. Major factors of this projected growth are due to increasing demand to introduce efficiencies in the procurement process and to reduce costs.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>As PaaS relates specifically to the Information Technology (IT) vertical and medium- to enterprise-sized organizations, these companies can be a vital resource to internal procurement and sourcing teams by offering industry-related guidance in making significant IT purchases. The need for IT PaaS companies has emerged as IT purchases have become more complex and much-needed checks and balances have arisen to ensure that the buyer is protected, well informed and has solid data in which to make these important decisions. IT PaaS companies take the time to fully understand the needs and goals of the client and act as a liaison between OEMs, and channel vendors to compare products and/or solutions on an equal basis to obtain quotes, assist to compare and contrast, and provide additional information to enable the client to make a good business decision, based on a distinct process and backed by solid data. This takes a professional organization that is deeply entrenched in working with technology and contracts daily to assist the buyer in finding the right technology solution, at the right price &ndash; all while saving time, money and valuable internal resources.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Internal procurement and sourcing professionals are typically tasked with working between executive leadership and three different departments: IT departments have their specific needs and vision; finance is watching the budget; and legal is responsible for protecting the company from risk. IT PaaS companies work in tandem with procurement and their internal process t bring a proven process that leads to the best selection of vendors with cost validations. This can range from a full end-to-end RFP, to a single legacy IT contract review. tilizing specific examples of historical data lends tremendous negotiating power with the OEMs and channel vendors. Procurement leaders appreciate and rely on this information to justify and explain these expenditures and decision-making to IT, finance and upper management. This process relieves a lot of pressure, provides full transparency throughout the organization and protects against the illusion of any vendor biases.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Another area that IT PaaS companies can assist internal sourcing groups is working with IT departments to understand requests for purchases to determine the resources needed. Internal procurement departments typically do not have these resources readily available nor are they well-versed in the particular technology to even know where to start. Traditionally, these groups would take the information and interact with a value-added reseller (VAR) or managed service provider (MSP) directly and rely on their guidance, which could be biased. When engaging an IT PaaS company, subject-matter experts can be immediately involved to reach out to several different vendors and resources, leading to a much better and efficient result. IT PaaS companies can also play an instrumental role in finding niched or obscure technology providers and equipment that cannot be purchased off the shelf, such as a specialized company that makes servers that can withstand abnormal environmental conditions of extreme heat and moisture. For an internal procurement group, this can be a labor- and resource-intensive process. The PaaS company can leverage its partner network and provide options along with enough information for the company to make an informed decision, without the additional burden.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>A key advantage of IT PaaS companies is they might engage with a company that renews a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) every three years or so. The procurement department would need to start the whole renewal process during this interval with a lot of time in between. When engaging an IT PaaS company, they may have worked on several of these exact contracts within the past weeks or months. The same contacts or processes may be continued momentum used to give a distinct advantage and intimate knowledge of where opportunities may be to save money. This active involvement in several IT verticals and having an &ldquo;ear to the street,&rdquo; lends a huge advantage in knowing current market trends and negotiation points.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Many companies have a policy of obtaining at least three quotes prior to making a significant IT purchasing decision for anything new or renewing legacy IT contracts. This can be despite already having an existing, working relationship with a current vendor. IT PaaS companies can be contracted to help navigate this process by finding alternative providers, comparing offerings, along with providing any additional information from the marketplace to assist with the selection process. The goal can be to work towards maintaining the current vendor relationship while still validating that the pricing is in line with market standards, meets cost-saving mandates from executive management, or assists in finding a new provider and helping to facilitate a transition.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>IT PaaS companies are a valuable resource available to work in unison with an organization&rsquo;s current procurement process to add value. They play a vital role in utilizing their industry-specific knowledge, subject-matter experts, and relationships to find the desired technology whether it be software, hardware, managed services or cloud without overspending. Many only receive compensation for IT contract reviews or renewals when additional savings are found or from a statement of work for outlined services to be performed and delivered on. Owners and C-suite executives appreciate the transparency and rigor of their procurement teams working with an IT PaaS to support the company&rsquo;s technology initiatives to move forward, but in a financially responsible way supported by a competitive and defined IT procurement process.&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement-as-a-service-paas" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement as a Service (PaaS)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing-model" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing Model</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/information-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Information Technology (IT)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/purchasing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Purchasing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supplier-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supplier Management</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/request-for-proposal-rfp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Request for Proposal (RFP)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Information Technology Procurement as a Service &amp;ndash; Added Value to Internal Procurement Teams - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/information-technology-procurement-as-a-service-added-value-to-internal-procurement-teams"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 19 Dec 2019 21:30:00 +0000 Rob Johnson 1651 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/information-technology-procurement-as-a-service-added-value-to-internal-procurement-teams#comments