The digitization of the IT sourcing process

The process of IT sourcing often turns out to be lengthy and complicated. There are several reasons for this: constantly changing technological requirements, the increasing pressure to innovate, an insufficient market overview and lack of market transparency.Yet, properly purchased IT solutions help to increase efficiency and enable companies to significantly minimize costs in the long term and thus achieve higher profitability. The use of cutting-edge technologies is of great relevance here. According to the BME Barometer, 45% of respondents expect the use of intelligent search algorithms in combination with Big Data analytics to create a high level of transparency in global procurement markets.

The challenges of IT sourcing: a central platform is missing

As previously mentioned, the increasingly complex and ever evolving technology market poses new challenges for the procurement department. Consequently, the sourcing of IT solutions is often not efficient and productive enough. Digitizing the IT sourcing process delivers extreme added value for companies by saving resources and thus making them more competitive.

Time is money – especially in IT sourcing

The procurement of a solution can take several months or even years, depending on the area of application. This leads to delays in internal company projects. Therefore, IT sourcing processes should be accelerated through automation, but without compromising quality.

No grounds for well founded make-or-buy decisions

In addition, many companies may not know which solutions they have already implemented and whether these may also be useful for other projects. Often, it may not be necessary to purchase new solutions, because suitable suppliers may already be among the company’s active vendors. A sourcing platform that matches existing or preferred suppliers of a company with its project requirements would deliver additional value. In this way, both time and costs can be saved. 

Highly fragmented market

There is a plethora of available IT solutions. From large, well-known market leaders to niche providers. The latter are often overlooked, even though they may be the superior or more cost-effective solutions.There is a need for neutral sourcing tools that scan the entire market to find suitable solutions. Especially in order to enable objective decision-making when it comes to make-or-buy decisions.

knooing’s zero-touch sourcing platform relieves the burden of strategic IT sourcing

In general, the digitization of IT sourcing bears great potential for companies. By automating the search process of suitable IT solutions, companies can further reduce the workload of their strategic sourcing department. This would result in significant gains in efficiency and would free valuable resources to be reallocated to higher value tasks.Intelligent sourcing platforms that help with the mentioned challenges are based on the latest technologies. In particular, knooing’s zero-touch IT sourcing platform can simplify and accelerate the internal as well as external search for suitable IT solutions. The platform was designed to significantly reduce the struggles of strategic IT sourcing.Until now, platforms and networks have primarily required human input. But thanks to the rapid advancement of automation and artificial intelligence, knooing’s zero-touch Sourcing platform works with minimal human input. Requests are matched completely automated with fitting IT solutions on the platform.

How the zero-touch sourcing platform works

The AI-based matching platform serves as an aid and decision-making tool for the IT procurement. By including the customer’s active providers in the search, the platform lays the foundation for a well-founded make-or-buy decision. The extended external search further ensures a high level of market transparency.

1. Describe project requirements

First, users describe their project requirements on the platform. Based on this, the AI-based platform automatically searches for suitable IT solutions and presents the search result to the user. All according to the zero-touch principle.

2. Check internal providers

The USP of knooing’s platform: users have the option to first check if their active providers fit the requirements of their new project. This is possible via an API connection to the internal company databases, or by uploading a CSV file. If an active provider is deemed suitable for the current project requirements, the search process can be terminated.This offers enormous saving potentials for companies, since they do not have to purchase new solutions, resulting in significant cost reduction.

3. Matching external providers

If there are no suitable solutions among active providers, or if the user wants to compare active with external providers, an advanced search can be started via the knooing platform. Here, solutions are checked and compared globally and in real time based on the project’s requirements .

4. Compare and select found solutions

The solutions can then be compared with each other in a matrix based on the self-defined criteria. Further, the results can be shared with all departments within the company.Therefore, the IT buyer can decide how to proceed with the project.

knooing as a central collaboration platform for companies

All kinds of project requirements can be collected centrally on knooing’s platform. For example, security-specific aspects, such as data protection regulations, can be included as criteria.The project itself can already be worked out in detail, or it can be described on a higher and more general level. Thus, the platform can be used by IT laymen, too. Here in particular, knooing provides ideas for different approaches, which can be further specified later on in the project.Ultimately, knooing’s zero-touch sourcing platform digitizes the IT sourcing process which reduces the increasing workload of the strategic purchasing department.If you are interested and need more information on how knooing can support you in your digitization projects, please feel free to write us a non-binding message at info@knooing.de or get in touch via our contact form.