team.GIF (1362 bytes) PROJECT RATIONALE

IT and communication technologies play a central role in an organization’s productivity and service delivery. Due to the vast number of suppliers and systems, procurement processes are becoming increasingly complex as IT buyers try to identify the best solution in terms of cost and quality.

Organizations are faced with internal difficulties in trying to manage the lack of coordination between the three key procurement disciplines:

Personnel in these areas (such as a contracts department, an IT department, users, those concerned with architecture and standards, etc.) often have different backgrounds, different vocabulary, different bosses, and in some cases little understanding or respect for the other team members’ roles and skills. As a result, any such cross-functional team suffers from poor communication and project management. Yet, this "team" is expected to make large budget decisions.

Guidelines and support are essential to enable organizations to remain in control of their IT procurement processes.

Many tools and documents already exist for developing and improving IT procurement best practices. However, the TEAM project addresses the specific area of procurement team management, including communications and teamworking, and the organizational effectiveness of specific procurement processes to achieve clear goals, well managed processes, and increased efficiency. It has been proven that teams which have shared goals, effective communication, and good relationships perform better.

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