Probrand gets Queen's seal of approval

VAR's IT procurement tool wins a prestigious Queen's Award for Innovation

Probrand is celebrating after scooping a prestigious Queen’s Award for its IT procurement site The IT Index.

To win the award, Probrand had to demonstrate how it has achieved the highest level of excellence in improving its performance and commercial success through continuous innovation.

The site, www.theITindex.co.uk – developed in partnership with Mercato Solutions – is believed to be Europe’s largest automated ICT catalogue that daily updates more than 150,000 products and services from over 2,500 manufacturers. All products are ranked by best price and stock availability.

Peter Robbins, managing director of Probrand, said: “Our platform is changing the face of how public and private sector communities drive down the cost of buying ICT. With customer ERP system integration, we complete the automated purchase cycle.

“Our business is driven by transactional efficiency, not web advertising. We have to be acutely customer-centric, giving the buyer what they want – more efficient ways of getting competitive deals on ICT from across a hugely fragmented, multi-tiered supply chain. This is the innovation we bring."

Robbins said a 'thirst to deliver" has seen continuous innovation in the Mercato technology behind The IT Index, which has resulted in year-on-year growth for the business and its supply chain partners.

“This technology is deployed globally for IBM as part of its ‘Pre-Sales Advisor Tool’ project across 37 countries in 22 languages. It is very rewarding to see this acknowledged with an internationally recognised mark of success,” Robbins added.