Business benefits
Increased efficiency and centralised IT purchasing is helping reduce the company’s overheads
Business description
Electronics manufacturer
Business challenge
Prevent non-standard IT hardware from impacting the company’s productivity
The solution
Implement a pan-European IT procurement system with standardised purchasing options
Services
E-procurement
Fulfilment
Key partners
HP
Too much choice can wreak havoc with a company’s IT procurement operation. With
so many vendors and suppliers to choose from, organisations can
soon find themselves plagued with over-lapping contracts, non-standard
purchases and a costly paper trail.
To overcome such procurement challenges, many companies have
opted to centralise their IT purchasing, which not only helps
to streamline the process, but also promote greater IT standardisation.
When Pioneer Europe standardised the majority of its hardware
on to HP products, it also partnered with Computacenter to deliver
an online procurement and fulfilment service to more than 10
countries. As a result, Pioneer Europe has been able to reduce
the complexity associated with its IT procurement, and decrease
maverick buying.
The bespoke solution also supports the electronics giant’s
move to a more standardised infrastructure, which will eventually
enable it to simplify the management of its IT estate.
Pioneer
has over 60 years’ experience of developing audio and video
equipment, and employs more than 39,000 people across the globe.
Its extensive portfolio of products encompasses digital versatile
discs (DVD), plasma display panels (PDP) and in-car navigation
and AV systems.
The company is committed to innovation, and bringing entertainment
excellence to individual’s homes and vehicles. In Europe,
these aims are fulfilled via a series of subsidiaries in more
than 10 countries - including the UK, Germany and France - which
are managed by the company’s European headquarters in Belgium.
IT strategy and procurement for Europe are also controlled via
the operation in Belgium and the company is moving to an increasingly
centralised model. As Steven Decanniere, Central IT Operations
Manager for Pioneer Europe NV, explains: “The structure
of our European business had led to a decentralised IT infrastructure
and purchasing strategy. As a result, our IT assets lacked standardisation,
which was adding both costs and complexity to the support and
management of our infrastructure.”
Increasing IT control
To help address these challenges, Pioneer Europe took the decision
to centralise and standardise both its IT infrastructure and
procurement process for new technology.
As a result of a tender process, Pioneer Europe selected HP
as its preferred technology partner for Wintel-based servers,
desktops and printers. “By standardising our hardware platforms,
we are able to make our infrastructure much more interchangeable
and flexible,” comments Joost Rommelaere, Manager of Pioneer
Europe NV’s IT Competence Centre. “HP offered the
best both in terms of price and quality, and has a proven track
record in developing reliable technology.”
This, however, was just the first piece of the IT procurement
puzzle. Pioneer Europe also needed to ensure that the HP hardware
could be efficiently sourced and distributed to its 12 sites
across Europe. “We needed a pan-European agreement that
was both efficient and cost-effective,” adds Joost. “Computacenter
is an accredited and established HP partner, and has the scale
and resources to meet our current and future needs.”
Web-enabled procurement
As a result, Computacenter has been supplying Pioneer Europe
with HP servers, desktops, peripherals and printers since early
2003. In that time Computacenter has shipped more than 6.500
(actual number 6.541) products across Europe. These products
are ordered by the different subsidiaries via Computacenter Connect
- a specialist e-procurement tool that enables customers to purchase
IT software and hardware over the Internet.
The full Computacenter Connect catalogue contains up to 30,000
items, but many customers – including Pioneer Europe -
opt for a bespoke version comprised of their regular purchases
and core products. Yasmina Fadli, Pioneer Europe’s Account
Manager at Computacenter, commented: “We hold monthly meetings
with HP and Pioneer Europe to ensure the product portfolio is
up to date, and reflects any specification or model changes.
We have also developed bespoke bundles for regular purchases,
such as a desktop package for a new starter, which are tailored
to each country to ensure localised keyboards are provided.”
Computacenter Connect also helps Pioneer fulfil its objective
of a standard IT infrastructure across Europe. “Computacenter
Connect helps us control maverick buying, and has also made our
IT purchasing more efficient and quicker by web-enabling the
process. Procurement can be a drain on both IT resources and
budget, so being able to simplify the process is extremely beneficial,” commented
Steven.
In addition to streamlining IT procurement, Computacenter Connect
also provides customers with additional services, which can help
them monitor purchasing costs and track orders. It also enables
companies to improve their intelligence around IT procurement
and products, as Steven explains: “Our purchasing processes
are now much more defined, and we also have better visibility
of changes to HP’s product offerings, enabling us to make
informed hardware choices.”
Responsive service
With Computacenter responsible for sourcing nearly a third of
Pioneer’s IT hardware in Europe, it is essential that it
can fulfil the company’s needs. “If procurement and
distribution are held up, then time to desk can be compromised,
which could impact business continuity and productivity,” comments
Yasmina. “We therefore work closely with Pioneer Europe
to forecast its needs, and reserve a certain amount of stock
for them on an ongoing basis.”
Such safeguards have helped to ensure that Computacenter delivers
a responsive and reliable technology sourcing service to Pioneer
Europe, which orders an average of 272 products a month.
“We have a good relationship with Computacenter, and it
is responsive to our needs,” comments Joost. “It
has also proven to be very flexible, and we have been able to
work together on making changes to improve our supply chain for
IT hardware.”