Curing Procurement in Higher Ed

Take a minute and consider the “stuff” that makes an academic department run. Think about the classroom chairs and desks, and other things we take for granted like dongles and docking stations. But, then think about all the scientific equipment a biology department requires. Think about the copier toner and paper for all those English department thesis drafts. Every foreign language has workbooks. Every art class has supplies. Digital technology is yet another category of “stuff”—and one with its own challenges around compatibility and security.

In other words, there’s more to higher education than just learning and teaching. Departments must chart a course—and a budget—for themselves to do the vital and often invisible work that makes higher education a valuable experience. If you’re in charge of procurement—or know someone who is—then there are two things you’re going to need to care about: integrating your software applications and security. Amazon Business covers both and can help you integrate the systems that make purchasing easier (and more efficient) while doing so securely and safely.

Nothing defines “easy” or “hard” better than the Punchout integration, which allows e-procurement users to punch-out to Amazon Business. And nothing defines success better than a seamless process.

Planergy is a leading procure-to-pay platform that works with established and growing customers to optimize operations and finance. Keith Murphy, Planergy’s Head of Content, defines seamless in terms of the workflow, which is critical to his company’s efficiency.

“Planergy customers love how the Amazon Business Punchout integration streamlines purchasing workflows,” says Murphy. “Ordering, approving, and billing for their Amazon Business orders is simple and automated while senior management have greater control of spend and granular spend analytics.

Lots of university colleges and departments already use e-procurement systems like JAGGAER, for instance. (In fact, more than 150 e-procurement systems support Punchout to Amazon Business.) Anyone in charge of procurement will tell you that nothing eats time like searching for things, which is why Amazon Business’ Integrated Search integration can be so helpful. With Integrated Search, users can browse hundreds of millions of products available on Amazon Business within their e-procurement tool’s search results. Account administrators can set up Guided Buying policies to help ensure compliance with internal purchasing policies.

“Amazon Business and JAGGAER’s Integrated Search is a true one-stop shop,” says Mary Franklin, Procurement and Contract Administrator for Liberty University in Virginia. “It reduces the amount of time end users spend looking for items outside of our pricing structure. From the requisition to invoices, POs, and fulfillment—everything is automated. It’s truly a hands-free procurement process.”

Risk mitigation is another aspect of procurement—and it isn’t just the domain of university lawyers, either. Procurement officers and their departmental deans are on the front lines of keeping university networks and data secure. Single Sign-on (SSO) can allow universities centrally enable and disable buyer access with existing SSO integrated corporate applications. It also offers friction-free convenience by utilizing existing university credentials.

Universities everywhere face common challenges around procurement, which Amazon Business can streamline so decentralized buying makes the “stuff” of academic administration easy.

Originally published on The Chronicle of Higher Education, click here to view.