How IT Departments Can Drive Digital Transformation in the Public Sector

Today, government agencies and departments face a major challenge: how to make the transition to digital procurement tools and services in a timely and efficient manner?

While some state, local and federal departments have made the switch to cloud-based (SaaS) procurement solutions, the vast majority of public sector agencies continue to rely on manual and outdated processes. For internal IT departments, the imperative to move to modern technology solutions can be more pressing than in other areas of operation because IT teams understand the potential of digitization. This is why CIOs and IT teams are ideally positioned within public sector organizations to push for change.

With respect to procurement operations, there are many compelling arguments IT teams can make to show why it’s critical that public procurement departments adopt e-procurement tools. From a lack of physical server space to the difficulty in manually processing dozens of hundreds of supplier bids on a project, e-procurement solutions offer a range of tools that can deliver time and resource savings, improve transparency and make public procurement more efficient.

Modernization of public sector operations

The way government operates is changing as a result of digital technology. Research from Gartner published in June 2020 found that a sustained digital government strategy enables public officials to improve public services in a way that is at once adaptable, affordable and sustainable. However, the pace of change generally remains slow, with 80 percent of government organizations still in the early stages of digitization.

The findings indicate that the transition from analog, manual process-based government operations to digital government will be a long-term journey that will require new approaches from all stakeholders. Opportunities for innovation will abound during this transition phase, which will take place over years.

IT procurement is a major area of operations for the public sector and should be considered a priority during digital transformation initiatives. Thanks to the advent of digital solutions including BidNet Direct, demonstrating the utility of e-procurement is easy. Simply by signing up for a demo of BidNet Direct, technology executives can quickly learn how e-procurement simplifies purchasing and all related activities.

How to facilitate the transition to E-procurement

It’s important for CIOs to explain what digital government means to the directors and staff members of agencies that will experience the transition. One way to ensure buy-in from stakeholders in the procurement department is to show the nuts-and-bolts of how a digital solution works, while detailing the benefits and value the solution will bring.

BidNet Direct supports IT procurement by ensuring that all purchasing initiatives are transparent, auditable and completed in a secure and centralized online environment. As a result, purchasing initiatives can be streamlined and manual process can be made more efficient or eliminated. A simple tour on BidNet Direct’s website provides details about our solutions, how they work and which agencies have already started using BidNet Direct to power IT procurement.

BidNet Direct provides modular solutions encompassing:

• Bid Distribution
• Bid Evaluation
• Vendor Management
• Award Management
• Contract Management
• Vendor Performance Management
• Access to our network of state Purchasing Groups

Contact us today to find out how our suite of e-procurement solutions can simplify your IT purchasing and deliver tangible time and resource savings to your organization.

Find out how BidNet Direct can help your government organization today!