INFORMATION ASSET MANAGEMENT
58 realising the benefits of outsourcing server management . This does continue to lag behind the commercial sector though , where cloud hosting and SaaS are now the default .
“ In the past we would usually work with the procurement department of public sector organisations , as they had to be involved in any purchase above a certain threshold ( often £ 5K ) and one-off server licenses of our software were above this . The adoption of SaaS has changed this . Getting procurement involved adds an extra layer of complexity for both the vendor and the team wanting the software . SaaS enables those teams to fly under procurement ’ s radar , as monthly fees tend to be under the thresholds . So increasingly we ’ re working directly with end user teams without the involvement of procurement , which suits us all just fine .”
Ward feels trustworthy data should be at the heart of all sensible commercial decisions being taken in asset management procurement .
“ Procurement teams face increased pressure to make greater savings , and this has been intensified by
Covid-19 as organisations aimed to cut more from the bottom line and remove unnecessary risk . At the same time , organisations needed to rapidly deploy remote working capabilities and unified communications programmes , such as the mass introduction of Zoom or Teams across companies or a large-scale rollout of remote working laptops .
“ The need for companies to act fast in implementing these new IT systems meant that many were forced to
DECEMBER 2020