Purchasing Technology Adoption
By Dr Chris Proudfoot, Lead Consultant at ExceleratedS2P
In a previous article, I talked about Technology and Organisational Adaptation. For me these are key factors that emphasise the importance of organisational learning in any technology programme. Fundamentally at the outset of a technology journey many organisation do not know what they do not know! As the technology implementation continues the organisation will understand more about what they do not know but will not necessarily have the answers.
An organisation can often accelerate the learning process and therefore significantly reduce time to value through the implementation process by partnering with organisations, such as exceleratedS2P, who have the knowledge and experience of the technology to assist in the design process. This will have two major benefits:
- The initial implementation design will deliver value, aligned to business objectives, in a much shorter timescale
- The design of the processes should not constrain process evolution as business priorities and requirements develop.
Our approach to achieving this is to work with our clients to identify where they need to be in the future and not just automate, through technology, the processes they have in place today.
An example of this is where one of our consultants worked with a Public Sector organisation. The organisation had already taken the decision to invest in Ariba Spend Management as a replacement for an existing Sourcing and Contract Management Solution. Whilst the initial emphasis was on Sourcing and Contract Management, it soon became clear that the organisational direction was changing from the purchasing of services to the commissioning of service provision. This drove a change in emphasis towards supplier and contract performance management as being one of the key value drivers for the investment that had been made.
The example illustrates the importance of ensuring that Procurement objectives and Business objectives are aligned and, if this is the case, that Procurement can have a significant business impact beyond delivery of savings.
As someone who has spent a large part of my career in manufacturing process automation, going back to the time when digital automation was still “new” technology, the example also illustrates something I learned during that time about the importance of looking for opportunities that automation brings and not just automate existing processes.