ENTERPRISE IT
“ Fewer than one in five organisations believe they have reached a point of full digitalisation ”
IAN NETHERCOT SUPPLY CHAIN DIRECTOR , PROBRAND
“ Research produced by Probrand , in collaboration with CIPS , has revealed that fewer than one in five ( 18 %) believe they have reached a point of full digitalisation ,” he says . “ Furthermore , 28 % say they are yet to make plans to move in this direction .” processing orders , and chasing returns and errors . Even straightforward tasks , like raising a PO number , are taking three days or more for most buyers – almost a fifth said this was taking longer than a week .
“ Standing still on digitalisation will undoubtedly leave businesses at a competitive disadvantage . Bogged down by unnecessary admin , a lack of access to live data is leaving buyers struggling to buy at the best times and gain value from every purchase . As a result , they also have less time to spend building strategic relationships with the suppliers that can help them better meet the needs of their organisation ,” he comments . “ So why are procurement professionals still working in this manual way ?”
Inefficient and ineffective systems Probrand ’ s study revealed that most IT buyers feel held back by a lack of digitalisation – with almost two-thirds ( 63 %) still relying on manual systems to complete standard tasks , such as placing orders .
“ The results also showed that a quarter are spending the equivalent of one day each week just researching IT purchases – this includes comparing equipment specifications , checking prices and stock availability ,” Nethercot adds . “ Liaising with suppliers during the ordering process was also revealed as a huge drain on buyers ’ time – with 71 % saying they spend a significant amount of time emailing and 70 % saying the same effort was being spent on calls .”
But these weren ’ t the only duties taking up a lot of time .
“ The vast majority ,” Nethercot explains , “ said they were also burdened by tasks such as tracking orders , checking prices and stock , technologymagazine . com 57