Procurement and supply chain recruitment agencies should be seeking procurement candidates who have a desire to forge long-term, strategic relationships with IT colleagues in the organisation. This is the verdict of David Pastore, a senior IT and telecoms strategic sourcing professional, in a new article for The Strategic Sourceror. His conclusion comes in the context of current budgetary squeezes, with practitioners in procurement jobs under pressure to find new sources of cost reduction, even though few stones have been left unturned.
This isn’t unique to procurement pros. IT colleagues have also been under pressure to cut costs and do more with their allocated budgets – and they are succeeding. IT has become the lifeblood of most organisations, Pastore notes, facilitating almost everything a company does, with many facets of infrastructure and services. The complexity of the IT knowledge base has, to some extent, granted the function some protection against the more swingeing of budgetary constraints. Companies need their IT pros engaged in uptime activity, managing security, innovation, and adapting to fluctuating needs. But those days are waning – its spend is coming under renewed scrutiny.
Pastore believes that a new convergence is underway: Procurement needs IT to uncover new enterprise-wide savings opportunities, and IT needs Procurement to fulfil primary objectives while remaining in-budget.
While many organisations are experimenting with tactical and reactive forms of collaboration, Pastore thinks this must evolve into a longer-term, more strategic partnership. He writes: “…both organizations need to leverage one another’s resources and expertise in order to fulfil their respective roles in ensuring a strong return on their investments and continuous improvement.” This, he suggests, will require “a long-term focus with a roadmap that accommodates short term benefits while laying the groundwork to realize improvements over a three to five-year time horizon and the necessary governance to adapt and recalibrate as time goes on.”
Source: https://www.strategicsourceror.com/2019/07/it-and-procurement-have-never-needed.html https://www.blogger.com/profile/18305861384385875620