Probrand celebrates e-procurement spike

Shopping online: public sector organisations are under pressure to get more from existing budgets

VAR Probrand has claimed that an unprecedented number of education establishments signed up to its online procurement portal last quarter.

According to the Birmingham and Manchester-based firm, current pressure to get more faster from existing budgets is causing a spike of interest in procuring IT through an e-procurement process.

Organisations signing up to Probrand’s The IT Index tool include Brighton University, Northumbria University and Gateways High School in Leeds. The tool updates over 110,000 products by best price and stock availability from over 2,000 suppliers.

Richard Hunter-Rice, sales manager at Probrand, said: “Education establishments are under the same, if not greater, economic pressures as the private sector.

“This is prompting buyers, who are often asked to multi-role in a tighter spending environment, to look at innovative ways of getting best-priced IT products in the shortest possible time.

“E-procurement offers education IT buyers just that. It meets the needs of improving technology education in the classroom as more advanced IT can now be bought for less.”

He added: “E-procurement is helping schools and Local Education Authorities to save on average 15 per cent of their IT budgets and a working week in time spent calling suppliers to barter on price. That is 15 per cent that can be used to get better, faster, more sustainable IT for the classroom and back office.”