A report from The Economist Intelligence Unit
Sponsored by
The state of
IT procurement
The state of IT procurement
About the research2
Introduction3
Drivers of change4
Procurement myopia5
The reform agenda7
Progressive procurement9
Conclusion11
Appendix: Survey results12
Contents2The state of IT procurement
The state of IT procurement
, a study conducted
by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and
sponsored by HPE Financial Services, explores
how IT procurement executives say their function
is working now and where—and how—it needs
to evolve to better refect today’s technologies
and the role they play in business.
The EIU conducted a survey in September
and October of 2016 of 302 respondents from
the US and the UK and across a range of
industries, including fnance, manufacturing,
healthcare and retail. Other demographics
include:
l Company size: 38% at companies with annual
revenue of $1bn or less; 62% at companies
with revenue of at least $1bn
l Tenure: 43% with more than fve years of
experience in their current role and 32% with
more than fve years of experience in IT
procurement
We would like to thank the following individuals
for their insights offered during interviews:
l Mike O’Brien, Global Head of IT Sourcing,
British Petroleum
l Anthony Porter, Head of Global Corporate
Procurement, Acxiom
l Rekha Ramesh, Senior VP and Global Head of
IT and Digital, Daymon Worldwide
l Adam Stanley, CIO, Cushman & Wakefeld
About the
research
The state of IT procurement
Over the past ten years, the role of information
technology in business has changed. In the
wake of the dot-com crash, many companies
saw IT primarily as a driver of effciency and
reliability in their internal operations, a means to
administer and document business initiatives. It
was considered a cost to be carefully controlled,
if not minimised, by bringing process, oversight
and collective buying power to IT investments.
Today, companies approach technology
very differently. Digital technologies are
increasingly the primary channel through which
companies interact with their customers.
Investing in technology innovation is now seen
as essential for survival. Indeed, technology
often defnes what business initiatives are
possible.
The IT departments of large corporations are
gradually moving to this digital-frst view and
adopting practices that allow them to work
closely with the business to develop digital
solutions that improve customer value. Large
outsourcing contracts, which often helped
companies contain costs at the expense of
fexibility, are coming into question; often more
agile ways to procure IT services from a wider
range of suppliers are favoured. This evolution is
requiring nimble IT departments that can quickly
gain access to new technologies.
Is IT procurement (ITP) following suit Are ITP
professionals evolving their process and
practices to help meet their frms’ appetite for
digital innovation To fnd out, The Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU) surveyed more than 300
executives with responsibility for IT procurement
for a programme sponsored by HPE Financial
Services.
The survey reveals almost unanimous
acknowledgment among ITP leaders that their
functions need to evolve—just 2% of respondents
say otherwise.
However, the survey also suggests that ITP
executives are still more focused on inward-
facing priorities (for example, saving cost on and
maximising ROI from IT investments), than on
enabling the business to create value by greater
use of technology. Sixty-one percent of
respondents, for example, say that a chief
priority of their IT procurement is controlling
expenditure; only 43% cite playing a role in
making the business more innovative.
The survey also reveals the most signifcant
challenges facing ITP executives as they work to
provide greater value to the organisation:
constantly changing requirements of IT and of
the business. Thus, to empower the business to
use technology in innovative ways, ITP
professionals must both prioritise agility and
become increasingly attuned to business and
technology trends that will help them anticipate
fuctuating demands.
Introduction
。。。以上简介无排版格式，详细内容请下载查看