In the era of ‘digital everything’, ironically, the IT procurement process has been outdated up until now. Searching and connecting with network resources is typically a complex process with IT decision-makers having to deal with a fragmented landscape of services, vendors, and contracts. Read part one of our Digital Procurement Trends series to explore the complexities of IT decision-making.

However, the industry is experiencing a shift in the way IT procurement happens. Change has been brought about by the new technology trends that are aiming to solve the pain points of businesses looking for an easier way to access and connect with IT resources.The next generation of IT procurement capabilities is here and it’s digital. While enabling enterprises to advance and streamline their resourcing operations, digital procurement is fundamentally evolving the way organizations think about the procurement industry and their digital future.

Eliminating complexities with digitalization

Grappling with ever-growing complexities in their role is the key pain point for IT procurement professionals today. According to findings from Deloitte’s 2019 Global CPO Survey, “Procurement organizations today shoulder an expansive and intricate set of responsibilities, and each new task that arises from these responsibilities adds another node to an ever-growing network of complex initiatives and challenges to address.” With the age of digital transformation in full swing, it seems that mastering this fundamental change for their organization could see a positive knock-on effect for solving further operational complexities. Deloitte mentions that, “Eliminating and embracing complexity effectively, our research suggests, hinges upon one key initiative: digital transformation. If CPOs master this core area, they will be able to achieve mastery over all other forms of complexity.”The key to digital business transformation is embracing digital technologies and supporting capabilities to create ‘a robust new digital business model’, says Gartner. The core benefits of digital technologies, that help fuel digital transformation, are typically agility, flexibility, speed, and ease-of-use. And so, it goes without saying that new digital IT procurement capabilities can play a key part in enabling organizations to overcome complexities, and bolster their digital transformation initiatives.

Embracing digital procurement capabilities

So, what exactly is digital procurement? We typically describe it as the digitization of the procurement value chain and the use of digital technologies for sourcing services and products. Data is particularly important in fuelling this new age of procurement as it’s integrated across functions and supply networks. PWC suggests that data must be used proactively and intelligently, along with the introduction of digital processes and tools, to enable the reshaping of organizations so they can take on the challenges and opportunities of the expanding global digital revolution. Enterprises are already looking to empower their teams with the benefits of this new wave of digital resourcing. According to findings from Deloitte, “Roughly two-thirds of CPOs are getting their house in order by implementing modern source-to-pay (S2P) applications that automate core workflows, which, done right, free them up to focus on even more strategic efforts.”In The Future of Procurement in the Age of Digital Supply Networks, Deloitte mentions that when implementing digital procurement, “Most organizations deploy several forms of core procurement technologies. These platforms usually include a combination of spend analytics, eSourcing, contract management, and eProcurement (eCatalogs, eInvoicing), among others.” By digitizing their procurement tasks, organizations gain the performance and efficiency enabled through these tools including increased collaboration, analytics, and engagement.

There’s still a massive amount of opportunity, when it comes to organizations embracing digital procurement, left to be explored. Digitization will continue to transform businesses and IT resourcing is no exception. In part three of our ‘Digital Procurement Trends’ article series, we’ll explore the rise of the digital marketplace and discuss how platforms are driving digital procurement and making the buying and selling of IT services easier than ever.– – Are you ready to begin your digital procurement journey? Want to search and connect with buyers and sellers of cloud and connectivity services, as well as request quotes within a few clicks? Find out more by reaching out to the Cloudscene Team backed by the world’s most comprehensive source of data centers, service providers, and network fabrics – and get started.