In most businesses, you have to navigate procurement. It’s often a complicated process, with plenty of time spent sourcing the right solutions and jumping through your organisation’s hoops.
In the case of IT procurement, it means going through a consultation and implementation process to get all the services, solutions and products your business needs to be able to deliver effective IT. This might include:
- Finding and supplying hardware, from desktop PCs and laptops, phone systems and mobiles to keypads
- Sourcing network solutions – whether cloud-based or hybrid, wired or wireless, as well as routers, lines and broadband
- Selecting security functions, including anti-virus, anti-spam, data backup and disaster recovery solutions
It can also cover much more: from operating systems, server applications to business and productivity suites, like Microsoft 365. It’s a lot.
But working with a trusted partner can alleviate a lot of the headache associated with IT procurement. They can help you source the best solutions for your requirements, implement them effectively and make sure they meet your internal standards.
In this blog, we explore how to choose the right IT procurement partner for your business.
Choosing the right IT procurement partner
Finding the right IT procurement partner for your business requires careful consideration.
Pick the wrong partner and you risk being sold services which aren’t aligned with your IT strategy. You want to ensure the solutions you choose for your business are right for your needs, rather than because of loyalties to a specific vendor or product.
Here are some things to look out for when choosing your IT procurement partner:
- Establish what industry standards and accreditations the partner has. These demonstrate that the business is performing to a high level and has been assessed fully.
- Read their customer case studies. They should be varied and demonstrate a broad range of services and products. They should also demonstrate the expertise that they have and how they’ve helped businesses like yours transform.
- Look at which vendor partnerships they hold and whether they correlate with the systems you use. For example, Infinity Group is a Microsoft Gold Partner, which means we’ve got highest level of expertise and be able to offer you a wide range of Microsoft licensing options. Official partnerships demonstrate that a company is well-connected, trusted and may be able to get you more cost-effective solutions.
- Check their customer service reviews. Are they using an industry standard review engine such as TrustPilot or Feefo to capture customer reviews? If so, have a read through the reviews. It’ll help you to make your own judgement and determine their strengths and weaknesses before you commit.
By making these considerations, you can move forward with the confidence you’ve picked a partner who is trustworthy, reliable and tailored to your needs.
Where should you begin?
Many companies choose to involve IT procurement as early as possible in their projects. It grants your business access to the expertise of the procurement service across the project, from strategy to launch.
Once you’ve found your chosen IT procurement partner, the next stage is a consultation. At this point, you’ll work together to establish the current state of IT provision, the desired vision and the most effective way to get from one to the other. Their IT consultancy team will ascertain exactly what functions you need your IT to perform, as well as taking into account any other preferences.
After the consultation, your partner should collaborate with you to find the most cost-effective, high-quality option. Depending on your agreement, they’ll either completely prepare the products so that they are ready to use or deliver them to you for set up.
The best service doesn’t stop once the procurement is complete. Instead, there should be a comprehensive post-implementation review in which your provider will establish that the services are all working and moving you towards your goals. Best practice is to perform a return-on-investment check to examine the success of the services.
Once everyone’s confident the project is operating successfully, you’ll be able to report back to the rest of the organisation – ideally proving the value of your IT solutions!
Why choose Infinity Group?
We have worked with 1000s of businesses across the UK and have an in-depth knowledge of all industries.
We take our service beyond simple IT procurement to offer a full consultation, IT infrastructure and IT support service. Our full service offering enables us to work with you before, during and after the implementation on an ongoing basis. Our Service Desk is also open 24/7, 365 days a year.
Infinity Group is an industry leading IT consultancy and digital transformation provider. We are also a Tier 1 Microsoft Gold Partner, with three ISO accreditations to demonstrate our commitment to compliance and corporate governance.
If you would like to find out more, please get in touch.
