As one of an organisation’s biggest annual IT spends, IT hardware procurement requires effective management to ensure smooth operations and effective IT spend. From planning purchases to managing renewals, every step in the IT hardware procurement process must be carefully structured and timely to maximise return on investment and minimise disruptions.
Through the adoption of new technology, Akita is now positioned to assist our customers better with their IT hardware procurement strategy. Below we outline how an organisation can create a smart IT procurement plan:
Creating An Effective IT Procurement Plan
An IT hardware procurement plan is a structured approach to acquiring, managing, and eventually replacing hardware resources within an organisation.
IT hardware represents a significant investment, so the procurement process needs to be carefully managed to ensure cost efficiency, operational reliability, and scalability. Ad hoc purchasing can result in poor value. Meanwhile, a uniform approach to IT hardware acquisition can be to the detriment of some staff, and not take advantage of best pricing in the market.
As such, a successful IT hardware procurement plan will typically involve:
- Asset Visibility: Tracking all hardware assets within the organisation, including their status, age, warranty details, and usage patterns.
- Timely Replacements: Planning replacements for outdated or end-of-life hardware to prevent failures and costly emergency repairs.
- Budget Planning: Spreading out investments over time to align with organisational budgets and avoid unexpected expenses.
- Risk Reduction: Ensuring IT hardware stays up to date to minimise vulnerabilities and maintain compatibility with evolving software and security standards.
By taking these factors into account, an effective IT procurement plan ensures that an organisation’s hardware infrastructure remains efficient, reliable, and aligned with its operational goals.
But when talking about potentially managing thousands of devices, actioning an effective procurement plan can be a significant challenge.
Akita’s adoption of ScalePad as an IT hardware lifecycle management tool now allows us to support our customers with this goal.
How Akita Can Enhance IT Hardware Procurement Strategies
Akita can now help customers to better identify and manage their IT assets, optimising hardware purchases, replacements, and maintenance schedules.
Akita firmly believes in the importance of a proactive IT approach. Yet previously, even we have found it challenging to remain on top of all of the hardware that a customer holds.
By adopting and linking ScalePad to our wider service desk software, we’re now able to gain visibility of all PCs, laptops and servers that connect to an organisation’s network. This includes key data on age, specification, operating system and user assigned.
With this tool in place, we can improve IT hardware procurement strategies in line with effective procurement plans and a more efficient hardware lifecycle.
How We Can Optimise IT Hardware Procurement Process?
- Lifecycle Visibility: With a centralised view of each asset an organisation owns and the point in its lifecycle – including details on warranty – can help an organisation review and plan for IT hardware procurement. For example, with Windows 10 approaching the end of life, organisations can easily plan what percentage of devices can be upgraded to Windows 11 (based on age and specs), and which will need replacing.
- Enhanced Security: Device protection plays a large part in cyber security, and is a key requirement of accreditations like Cyber Essentials. While most organisations will keep their main PCs and laptops up to date, there’s typically an ageing piece of hardware in use somewhere that threatens to compromise that security status. And stakeholders might not necessarily know it’s there. Akita’s IT hardware management team can help to identify such laptops or ageing pieces of infrastructure that could compromise the rest.
- Automated Notifications: Remembering that a device is approaching end-of-life can be tricky. Using ScalePad, we can set alerts for end-of-life hardware, warranty expirations, and other critical dates as per a customer’s requirement. This allows for a progressive management of devices, not just when it crosses an individual’s mind.
- Data-Driven Decision-Making: With detailed analytics on asset performance, status and usage, allowing for more informed decisions regarding replacements, upgrades, and budget allocations. This reduces unnecessary spending and improves overall IT strategy alignment with business goals.
- Warranty Management: Managing which devices are under warranty can be complex, especially when handling large numbers of assets with varying warranties and service agreements. ScalePad’s warranty management capabilities provide a streamlined view of the warranty status of all devices, showing which are covered. Should an organisation wish, we can even purchase extended warranties for any devices.
By integrating these optimisations into its procurement strategy, Akita helps clients manage hardware more efficiently, keeping systems running smoothly while lowering long-term costs.
Benefits To Your Business IT Hardware Procurement Strategy
With our new IT hardware lifecycle management features, Akita can deliver a more proactive approach to IT hardware maintenance, replacements, and upgrades. The benefits of this include:
- Further Reduced Downtime: By proactively managing IT hardware lifecycles, Akita can minimise the risk of hardware failure resulting in downtime. This – coupled with our wider IT system maintenance – can significantly reduce business interruption.
- Cost Savings: Akita’s IT procurement team can now help customers to identify and plan for IT hardware replacements or upgrades. This allows organisations to budget effectively, avoid unexpected expenditures, as well as maximise tax benefits such as Capital Allowances.
- Increased Security: With timely patch management and proactive replacement of outdated equipment, Akita’s IT hardware services enhance the cyber security posture of customers’ IT environments, reducing vulnerability threats.
- Extended Asset Lifespans: Properly managed assets often achieve their full lifecycle potential. Akita can ensure that customers get the most out of each investment, maximising hardware ROI.
For assistance with IT hardware procurement strategies, please get in touch:
Contact Us
