Learn how an automated procurement portal saves this organization time and eliminates errors with a Workday integration.
Picture this. You’re an IT help desk director for a large organization with hundreds of locations and thousands of employees, and every time anyone in the organization needs a new monitor, keyboard, laptop—any endpoint item—the request lands in your inbox. That’s challenging enough, but when that’s just the first step in a manual eight-step process… inefficiency doesn’t even start to cover it.
This was an issue for a large travelers’ association. Not only was the procurement process time-consuming and circuitous, it was error-prone—every step of the way meant an opening for another mistake.
Enter MicroAge’s Adam Rankin:
“They knew they wanted to create an automated procurement portal that would integrate with their Workday intranet,” says Adam. “But they hadn’t had any luck finding an IT partner that could—or would—take on the project.”
Adam didn’t hesitate. He immediately engaged the MicroAge Services team to research how the process could best be automated.
Ready to take on the project, the MicroAge Services team quickly selected Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform for designing, testing and running the portal. With Adam at the helm, the team worked with the client and Workday to create an ordering portal eliminating unnecessary manual steps and giving employees and their managers more autonomy.
“During the process of building the portal, the client shared with me that they had asked several of our competitors for help and not a single one would take it on,” says Adam. “That’s what’s so cool about MicroAge—we are able to think outside of the box and tackle projects that other, less nimble IT partners can’t.”
The result is a fully automated, user-friendly GUI. The portal’s simple design features an inventory of the most-ordered IT items with just the image, description and price listed.
Now, whenever a team member makes a request, they access the Workday portal, click on a MicroAge logo, and then select the item. The order is submitted directly to the manager for approval, then to purchasing, automatically creating and sending MicroAge the purchase order.
Because all items loaded onto the portal are vetted and approved in advance, employees and managers avert a multi-step approval process, accessing needed items—sooner. The travelers’ association has seen instant efficiency and productivity gains.
The results are so positive that the IT department also leverages the portal for larger purchases and bulk orders.
“My client tells me that the automated procurement portal has made their lives so much easier,” Adam says. “And changes are quick and easy, because it’s built on the Azure cloud platform. It’s literally scalable to any size—it can be as big as they want.”
And since everything is automated, errors are effectively eliminated.
Fuel faster results for your business.
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Ready to change the way you do business? Whether you’re looking to streamline your procurement process or driving efficiency through other transformations, MicroAge is here to help. Speak with an expert today at 800-554-8877.
