| | NOVEMBER 20219CIOReviewgovernance efforts, and how to develop shared business goals.These are however, only a starting point for those efforts, and it's here that enormous value for procurement can be provided by information technology thought leaders. From its unique position in the business, information technology can be a reciprocal business partner and trusted advisor to procurement, offering five essential pillars of support.1. Strategy. Help us design end to end. There is a strong tendency to provide spot solutions to business problems; to look at the component parts of a procurement workflow and solve each step individually, rather than step back and design a global solution with targeted implementation.2. Advocacy. Place procurement in your business goals. Every investment in procurement as a function can be made only with a business case that helps to reduce cost, understand and mitigate risk, and reduce unnecessary complexity in execution. Only when there are shared business goals and mutual advocacy can transformative efforts in this space take shape.3. Priority. Keep cost and risk above the fold. A business does not grow by procurement alone. However, innovation in procurement does materially contribute to the bottom line and can drive the best value per dollar earned. Help is needed to prevent procurement initiatives from regularly reprioritization.4. Transparency. Provide substantive to data and business partners. From its special position in the business, technology leaders can help procurement open doors to supporting other areas of the business with procurement practices, and drive awareness of opportunities.5. Execution. Help deliver the live service. Information technology services touch every user of the modern workplace, onsite, offsite, any time. As the enabler of technology services, the function has a shared responsibility to help users connect with content and triage them to the right services to meet their needs. From its years of experience in this area, it is uniquely prepared to teach modern, always on digital procurement the art of live services.The modern partnership between information technology and procurement has the potential to drive enormous strategic value, reducing costs and risks. Through this partnership, we can meet the users where they are, connect them to the services that offer innovative solutions to their business needs, and leverage technology to operate with incredible speed and precision. While each organization will have its own mission, vision, and goals for the procurement function that are specific to its individual needs there are some common principles to the practice of procurement
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