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April 2011 | Lindsay Clark
The ArcadiaGroup has appointed an IT procurement manager to
build on the purchasing team’s successes in technology buying.
Andrew
Pattinson has been hired to build on the significant savings the team has made
on purchases of hardware, software and services after three years of serious
engagement with the technology team.
Stephen
Guy, procurement director of the retail group that owns brands including
Topshop, Burtons and Dorothy Perkins, said up to around three years ago
collaboration with IT was poor. The arrival of a new IT director presented an
opportunity to find a better way for procurement to work on the 12 per cent of
Arcadia’s £500 million addressable spend invested in IT.
As
a first challenge procurement was given a contract renewal for servicing a
legacy system – one that is ageing but essential to the business. Although
there were only a small number of potential suppliers, purchasing still managed
to achieve a 17 per cent saving. From here, the team was invited to contract
renewal negotiations and started to build a better relationship with IT
managers, which led to buyers working on higher profile work such as a till
refresh.
Now
procurement is involved with the majority of IT spending. So much so that the workload
has become too much for an individual with other purchasing responsibilities,
Guy said. Working with the IT director, he put together a proposal to recruit a
full-time IT procurement manager.
“In
the past three years we’ve gone from pretty much not talking to each other, to
presenting a joint business case for a person to come into the company to work
on our mutual behalves,” Guy said.
Pattinson
will be working with the IT team on contract renewal, new contract negotiations,
procurement review, and supplier rationalisation. He will be expected to go
more deeply into the IT procurement process and build on savings already made,
Guy said.