How modern IT procurement solutions drive innovation and compliance

The majority of modern organizations rely on IT in their procurement operations to some degree. Whether it’s hardware like monitors and laptops or software like a procure-to-pay and spend management platform, these technologies are essential for smooth operations. However, the process of purchasing this technology is often fragmented, manual, and risky.

Because IT is a core part of business operations, your team needs a way to meet organizational needs without sacrificing purchasing insight and operational control. This is where IT procurement solutions can upgrade your approach.

With the right software, your team can transform IT procurement from a scattered workflow into a strategic driver of business growth and profitability.

The evolving role of IT procurement

IT procurement has an increasingly strategic role for your organization’s indirect procurement approach. The process of acquiring technology, which many procurement professionals once saw as simply transactional, can now drive organization-wide agility, innovation, and risk management. As a result, IT procurement is now evolving into a competitive lever.

However, to make the most of a strategic IT procurement process, your team must consider the digitally evolving procurement landscape. That’s because technology like AI integrations, SaaS expansion, security and compliance requirements, and socially responsible purchasing data reporting all influence how your team manages IT procurement. All this, plus how your team’s needs and goals map to these digital procurement features and trends, affects the process of choosing IT procurement software.

This software also supports your organization’s digital transformation, and the right solution can empower your team to have an even greater impact on operations through governance. By automating workflows, streamlining routine tasks, and leveraging modern technologies like AI, IT procurement solutions help your buyers adhere to standardized policies when making IT purchases.

When your internal operations stick to your purchasing rules and procedures, you can facilitate organization-wide alignment and compliance. Here are a couple specific ways you can do just that:

Transforming cost control into an innovation partner

In the past, organizations wanted to acquire the goods and services they needed at the lowest possible cost, and the IT procurement processes they used enforced this goal. However, modern technology has allowed teams to transform the process of purchasing technology into an agile, innovative strategy that includes partnering with IT procurement. This provides them with the potential to accelerate organization-wide growth and drive profit.

For example, IT procurement can advance cloud or AI adoption by standardizing approval processes and supplier onboarding. Because of this, instead of sticking with a legacy model that views procurement as a hindrance to IT workflows, organizations are shifting to see procurement as a driver of strategic enablement.

Managing shadow IT and vendor risk

Shadow IT occurs when stakeholders use software or hardware that’s outside of your approved purchasing processes, which violates your organization’s governance policies. Using these unapproved programs to purchase from or interact with vendors can create blind spots in your operations. This kind of non-compliance also increases the risk of redundant subscriptions, compliance gaps, and data exposure.

These operational blind spots lead to limited visibility, which makes managing and resolving risk areas feel impossible. And without a firm grasp on IT procurement management, your organization may be in a state of uncertainty as you try to build an effective procurement strategy, maintain efficient operations, and achieve measurable business outcomes.

3 key features of IT procurement solutions

It’s one thing to look at a list of IT procurement solution features and identify which ones your team needs. But to understand the real value of an IT procurement platform, your team must understand how key features drive tangible, measurable procurement outcomes, such as improved network control, visibility, and compliance.

The following list outlines three core IT software solution features and how they could help you accomplish your business and spending goals:

Integration with ERP and SSO systems

Secure integrations form the bedrock of your procurement operations. That’s because a connected procurement tech stack gives your procurement team insight into the entire procurement workflow from a unified place. Additionally, integrated systems provide consistent IT procurement data that your team can use for smart business decision-making. 

As you consider your options for IT procurement solutions, you should prioritize those with robust ERP and SSO system integrations to support your team as they build a connected, dependable, and user-friendly digital procurement network. Amazon Business, for instance, integrates with over 300 systems, including SAP Ariba, Coupa, Oracle, and Workday. These connections help your organization achieve real-time data sync, simplified user management, and reduced manual reconciliation.

Spend visibility and analytics dashboards

Financial visibility directly informs your purchasing decisions. That’s why it’s important to find an IT procurement solution that obtains this insight—it can be the difference between uncovering impactful cost-saving opportunities and missing out on profit. They also help you streamline supplier management, reduce shadow IT, and uncover redundancies so you can save money and improve your operational efficiency.

Amazon Business can help your team regain this financial control with Spend Visibility (a Business Prime feature). This feature’s cloud-based system enables your team to uncover insights into your top IT categories, vendor overlap, and license utilization. You can also use Amazon Business’ solutions to track IT purchasing patterns, conduct spend analysis with Business Analytics, and generate customizable reports from an easy-to-use analytics dashboard.

This type of data-driven spend management plays a critical role in elevating IT procurement to a strategic level within your organization.

Policy enforcement and approval workflows

In a modern procurement landscape, where ordering from an unapproved supplier could result in overspending or a violation of purchasing policy, it’s crucial that IT e-procurement solutions support teams by facilitating budget control and compliance. 

Take, for example, Amazon Business’ policy enforcement and automation features. Guided Buying allows you to encourage buyers to order from certain suppliers by labeling them as preferred by your organization. In doing so, the feature sets clear purchasing guardrails and helps you lower the risk of shadow IT or maverick spend. Additionally, Guided Buying streamlines the user experience so your buyers don’t have to deal with long and complicated processes to acquire the IT goods or services they need to do their jobs well.

Just like buyers who purchase from unapproved suppliers pose a risk to your organization, so do workflow delays or errors from manual approval processes. But your team can easily resolve these issues with Amazon Business’ automation capabilities, which allow you to set specific permissions that trigger administrative tasks to occur instantly. For example, instead of spending hours sorting through approvals, you can automatically route purchase requests, get notifications, and set reminders without giving up budget control and the ability to assign approvers.

By streamlining your approval workflows in this way, you gain the added benefit of strengthening your supplier relationships. This is because you’ll be able to maintain a smooth, relatively error-free procurement lifecycle that increases vendor trust. This, in turn, can open the door to supplier collaboration that promotes supply chain resilience and long-term organizational growth.

Empower your IT procurement strategy to fuel operational growth

IT procurement is no longer just about cost savings. With a robust, AI-powered solution, modern procurement teams can turn their IT procurement workflows into a competitive lever that enables innovative strategies. 

But to reap the benefits of IT procurement technology, your team must first map solution features to your goals. That way, you’ll have tangible, measurable proof for why IT procurement software is the right choice for your organization.

That’s where Amazon Business can help. It’s an agile system that integrates with your current technology, enabling your team to regain control of IT procurement and gain financial insight by bridging the gap between efficiency, compliance, and innovation. In this way, Amazon Business can meet your organization’s current needs while also scaling effectively as your IT operations grow.

Is your team ready to transform its IT procurement into a strategic driver of organizational growth? Contact sales today to learn how Amazon Business helps IT and procurement teams automate sourcing, control spend, and support innovation goals.