IT PROCUREMENT
Buy, Buy

Transforming the procurement process for IT allowed a Canadiancarrier to make efficient purchases and improve internal customerservice.

Technology departments are supposed to be the one place inside acompany where automation rules, but Allstate Insurance Company ofCanada proved thats not always the rule, operating its ITprocurement department on a manual paper-based system. We hoped tostreamline our IT procurement processes, particularly fromrequisition to invoice reconciliation, gain efficiencies, andimprove our internal customer services, says Sandra Gass, ITprocurement manager for Allstate of Canada.
The carrier wanted to move from its paper-based process to anautomated system that would eliminate duplication of effort in dataentry, reduce IT purchasing costs, and improve the efficiency andeffectiveness of the IT purchasing process, according to Gass. Thecompany ultimately turned to Verian Technologies and its ProcureITsolution for the answer, but Gass says the decision involvedseveral significant steps.

First, Allstate of Canada had to document and analyze thecurrent IT procurement process and then document the problems thatexisted. Next came a review and analysis of the role of the ITdepartment and IT procurement to other departments within theorganization.

The ensuing phase, Gass says, involved providing recommendationsand the creation of new IT procurement processes, which outlinedfunctionalities and processes, classifying them as primary,secondary, and other important considerations.

Subsequent stages required determining the best solutionavailable and reviewing product demos while still maintaining thedepartments workload. This took approximately 10 months beforeGass, the IT steering committee (consisting of five IT technicalservices managers), and the director of IT technical servicesdecided Verian was the best option.

The [Verian] software solution provided the best value for ourfinancial investment, and it also offered a short implementationperiod, says Gass. The product was designed based on bestpractices, and it had built-in purchasing workflows. Since thescope of our project was for IT procurement/IT technical servicesonly, it was important we could find a solution that was scalable,Web based, and required the least amount of customization to fitour specific IT purchasing needs and processes.

Verian provided a technical team and a consultant to make theinstallation go smoothly, according to Gass. The installationinitially required some tweaking for our server, however the Verianconsultants were on site for the configuration and completed theinstallation within the time frame promised, she says.

Allstate of Canadas IT procurement team did a thoroughwalk-through of all administrative settings and practiced theirimpact within the training system, explains Gass. We then wouldassess how the various changes in the system settings impacted ourIT procurement processes and which ones improved or worsened them.Naturally, we selected those settings that fit our processes andenhanced them.

Gass already is looking forward to the next upgrade release, shesays, which will allow the carrier to attach documents to internalpurchase order requests as backup documentation. Currently,attachments are meant only for the vendors to receive as backup tothe products the carrier is requesting. Another upgrade the carrierwould like to see is an automatic e-mail message template as afollow-up to a manager for requisition approval once an elapsedamount of time has passed. This would help us maintain our parts ofour service-level agreements with our end users and internalcustomers without any manual intervention, says Gass.

The product was launched at the beginning of this year, and Gasssays within the first 10 weeks, the carrier experienced a 20percent reduction in time spent on the administrative processassociated with IT purchasing. There also was a 30 percent decreasein invoice reconciliation times. The carrier has eliminated severalsteps in the purchasing process and reduced the procurement unit byone person on contract, which Gass adds, helped shrink operationalcosts. ROBERT REGIS HYLE

THE PROBLEM
Carrier hoped to streamline
IT procurement processes.

THE COMPANY
Allstate Insurance Company of Canada
Web Site: www.allstate.ca
Direct Premium Written: $547 million (Cdn.)

THE SOLUTION
ProcureIT from Verian Technologies
Web Site: www.verian.com