The FTSE listed CPPGroup PLC has adopted online IT buyer’s tool Mercato ITelligence to eradicate unnecessary ICT overspend and stretch the reach of their existing budget to get more for their money.
The new approach is expected to save the insurance organisation money on product prices paid whilst delivering an efficient benchmarking process that eradicates timely manual supplier comparisons.
Using real-time technology, Mercato ITelligence informs users of current supplier margins before purchase, empowering buyers to quickly benchmark existing agreements and ultimately negotiate better value deals fast.
Buyers simply input their preferred supplier product lists or spot checks online which are automatically compared to trade guide price and stock levels of more than 150,000 products from over 2,500 manufacturers within the UK IT supply chain.
With price and stock alerts, management reports and forecasting facilities, Mercato technology offers Chartered Institute of Purchase & Supply (CIPS) accredited ‘procurement excellence’.
IT represents one of the largest areas of indirect procurement spend and as a volatile marketplace where price and stock can fluctuate, it tests buyers trying to achieve sustained best value on purchases.
As an international business supporting 10 million customers across Europe, Asia, North and South America, the crux of CPPGroup PLC’s operation is driven by IT, placing huge demand and scrutiny on its purchasing team.
Gail Williams, purchasing manager at CPPGroup PLC, acknowledged that gathering and analysing information using Mercato ITelligence is set to help the Purchasing and IT teams achieve immediate and long term commercial benefits.
On the organisations’ new approach, she said: “We have been using ITelligence for several months now and it has quickly allowed us to benchmark our prices for IT consumables on a daily basis.”
“It highlights areas of spend where we are possibly paying excessively over channel price, enabling us to challenge our suppliers.”
“It is much more than just a pricing tool. It has been very helpful in providing a clear view of stock levels and when products reach end of life. This has meant we can take the initiative with suppliers to investigate new models.”
“It is also valuable from an audit perspective as we may decide to purchase from a current supplier but we can demonstrate to the business that we were purchasing goods efficiently.”
“Overall it has been a valuable purchase and I am sure its effectiveness will only increase over the coming year.”