How to Optimise Indirect Procurement for Cost Savings and Efficiency

Discover how indirect procurement, supplier management, automating processes, and real-time insights can cut costs and boost efficiency.

Managing indirect procurement can be a hidden challenge for many businesses. From office supplies and IT services to maintenance and facilities, indirect procurement covers a wide range of essential services that keep your business running – but they don’t always get the attention they deserve.

Indirect procurement can eat into budgets, increase admin time, and create inefficiencies, especially when spending is spread across multiple locations or business units. The good news? Optimising your approach can lead to significant savings and improved efficiency.

At I-Tel Group, we’re here to help you streamline indirect procurement, making it easier for you to manage suppliers, cut costs, and focus on more strategic tasks.

Why Indirect Procurement Matters

Indirect procurement, despite being vital, often gets overlooked. It covers everything from janitorial supplies to IT equipment. Things that aren’t directly tied to your core product but are essential to keeping your business running smoothly. When poorly managed, it can lead to fragmented spending, increased costs, and inefficiencies across different departments and locations.

By optimising indirect procurement, you can gain control, drive down costs, and make smarter purchasing decisions, all while freeing up your team to focus on more important tasks.

  • Consolidating and Automating for Efficiency

At I-Tel Group, we offer solutions to consolidate and automate your indirect procurement processes, so you can work more efficiently:

  • Simplify Supplier Management

Dealing with too many suppliers can be time-consuming and lead to inconsistent pricing. We help you reduce the number of suppliers, focusing on key partnerships that deliver real value. By consolidating your supply chain and removing low-value suppliers, you can cut costs and streamline your operations.

  • A Single Procurement Portal

We provide one centralised platform where all your procurement traffic flows through, whether we supply the products or not. This single source of data allows for better reporting and analysis, giving you a clear overview of your procurement activities and helping you make informed decisions.

  • Automation for Speed and Simplicity

Manual procurement processes can slow things down and create extra work. By using our automated systems, including Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) trading, we can streamline the purchase-to-pay cycle. Everything from invoicing to cost allocation is automated, reducing admin time and making the whole process faster and easier.

  • Real-Time Data for Smarter Decisions

Access to real-time data is key to making informed decisions. Our customised business intelligence dashboards give you up-to-the-minute visibility on stock levels, usage, and spending across your organisation. This spend intelligence helps you plan ahead, spot inefficiencies, and make strategic decisions that save money.

What is Real-Time Data for Smarter Decisions?

Access to real-time data is key to making informed decisions. Our customised business intelligence dashboards give you up-to-the-minute visibility on stock levels, usage, and spend across your organisation. This spend intelligence helps you plan ahead, spot inefficiencies, and make strategic decisions that save money.

Real Life Options (RLO), a social care charity with a large network of 180+ sites, struggled with procurement inefficiencies. A significant portion of their purchases bypassed preferred supplier agreements, leading to higher costs and inconsistent practices across departments. Without a unified system in place, RLO missed out on the cost savings and efficiencies of bulk purchasing, further contributing to delays in receiving essential supplies.

By implementing our BI solution, RLO gained real-time insights into their procurement activities. This allowed them to strengthen supplier relationships, align procurement processes across sites, and bring off-list purchasing down to zero, resulting in 100% compliance with preferred supplier agreements. The improvements streamlined their operations and reduced procurement costs significantly.

Warehousing and Fulfilment Made Simple

At I-Tel Group, we also offer warehousing and fulfilment services to help you manage your stock efficiently. Whether you need to store IT equipment, marketing materials, or company assets, our dedicated warehousing space ensures your items are always secure and ready when you need them.

Bulk Buying and Stock Management

Our warehousing services allow you to take advantage of bulk buying, reducing costs and ensuring you have a steady supply of essential items. With our stock management system, you always know exactly what you have in storage, helping you avoid stockouts and over-ordering.

Pick, Pack, and Despatch

Need personalised items sent to different locations? We’ve got you covered. Our pick, pack, and despatch services are fully customisable, so you can tailor deliveries to meet your specific needs.

Why Partner with I-Tel Group?

We’re more than just a procurement service provider. At I-Tel Group, we offer a complete solution that covers everything from supplier management to warehousing and real-time reporting. Here’s what we can do for you:

  1. Less Admin, More Efficiency: We reduce the number of suppliers and automate manual processes, freeing up your team to focus on more important tasks.
  2. Cost Savings: Consolidating suppliers, automating processes, and bulk buying can all lead to significant cost reductions.
  3. Real-Time Insights: Our BI dashboards provide real-time data, giving you the insights you need to make smarter purchasing decisions.
  4. Sustainability: By reducing the number of deliveries and consolidating orders, we help you lower your carbon footprint and make your business more sustainable.

Do you have issues with staff not adhering to preferred supplier agreements and believe your procurement costs can be reduced? Contact us today for a free audit.

Real Life Options

Real Life Options has awarded I-Tel Group a five-year contract as its outsourced procurement partner.
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Gareth Shaw, I-Tel Group

Gareth Shaw

Senior Procurement Consultant

Gareth has over 19 years’ experience in commercial procurement contract management across both public and private sector. Holding senior positions at the Ministry of Justice and Turner and Townsend Gareth has overseen several multi million-pound contracts.
Guiding I-Tel in best practice and sustainability while offering practical solutions to steer our procurement team towards red tape reduction and compliant, efficient services.

Gareth Thompson

Legal & Compliance

Gareth is a qualified, senior commercial solicitor with 30 years’ experience. As counsel to the directors Gareth brings a wealth of experience to enhance I-Tel’s legal compliance and ensure supply chain legitimacy.
Overseeing all our commercial agreements and supporting the individual requirements of our clients, Gareth brings tremendous credibility to the whole organisation.
Dee Sarikaya, Head of Marketing, I-Tel Group

Dee Sarikaya

Head of Marketing

An impressive background with blue chip companies Dee is a former global B2B Commercial manager for Dyson. A proven track record in marketing and communications Dee is responsible for I-Tel’s client onboarding and messaging.
With huge experience in strategic international campaigns and working effectively in cross-functional teams Dee brings strong commercial acumen alongside an excellent ability to interact and influence at all levels.
Paul Keenan, Head of Client Services, I-Tel Group

Paul Keenan

Head of Client Services

Paul has over 30 years’ experience in B2B sales in both the public and private sector and heads up our client services division. Overseeing high value public and private sector contracts Paul has in depth knowledge of the industry.
Key contact to senior management and C suite clients with a problem solving, customer service excellence ideology.
Andrew Plummer, Operations Director, I-Tel Group

Andrew Plummer

Operation Director

A co-founder from the outset Andy has headed the operations team for I-Tel group. An engineer by trade Andy has a vast experience in manufacturing, logistics and warehousing.
Overseeing the day to day complexities of our hybrid model and ensuring all the individual parts function to produce the seamless highly efficient business model we see today.
Melvin Gauci, MD, I-Tel Group

Melvin Gauci

Managing Director

Managing Director and founding partner at I-Tel Group. Mel has been instrumental in transforming the business from a start-up cartridge manufacturing facility to an innovative forward thinking procurement company.
With 15 years at the helm and in depth knowledge of I.T. infrastructure and data analysis I-Tel Group is today one of the latest key players in the indirect procurement space.

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