State government, local government, educational institutions and small and medium businesses are continually faced with the challenge of balancing technology needs against shrinking budgets. Procurement costs almost always extend beyond the price of the hardware being purchased. That's because the total procurement cost formula includes the labor and overhead expended on managing the procurement process as well as the costs associated with receiving, installing and configuring the purchased equipment.

More and more organizations are discovering the efficiencies of partnering with technology solution providers who specialize in the small business, medium business, state government, local government and educational IT procurement process since these providers can save time and money in the following three ways:

1. Cut Through the Telephone and E-mail Chains

While e-mail is a convenient way to communicate, it's not the best medium for communicating back and forth in a question and answer format. For that, you need to use the telephone. Dial a vendor's number and the chase is on! Multiply missed calls and dueling voicemail messages by the number of vendors in the procurement process and pretty soon getting specifications and an idea of price becomes a full-time job.

When you partner with an IT service provider, however, you only have one point of contact with whom you need to communicate. Your partner takes care of everything from assisting state government and local government agencies and educational institutions with configuring computer hardware specifications and preparing pre-sales quotes to placing orders, coordinating delivery, installation and system configuration. The more complex your order is, the more value you receive from your partnership.

2. Leverage the Savings Offered by existing State Contracts such as Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA), Educational and Institutional and DIR for example.

Many state and local government and educational institutions that are interested in purchasing quality IT equipment such as HP servers, HP desktops, HP notebooks, HP storage, HP workstations, HP laptops, HP printers and other HP hardware at prices intended for educational institutions, state and local government, and small and medium businesses can lower their procurement costs by working with value added HP partners who are specialists in cutting costs on IT procurement and can often contact HP directly to arrange the best possible pricing as well as assist with placing and tracking orders.

3. Prepare Accurate Specifications

Many IT procurement personnel are not aware of complex pricing matrixes that are specification-driven as well as item quantity driven. Oftentimes when specifying HP servers, HP workstations and HP storage devices, significant cost-savings can be achieved by specifying one particular model or configuration over another. The end result is that the organization receives HP computer hardware – at a significant cost savings – that is functionally equivalent to higher-priced hardware that would normally have been purchased. Hidden IT procurement savings like these can usually only be realized when the procurement department works with a tech-savvy partner who assists in the process of preparing HP quotes on the organization's behalf.

If you're interested in lowering IT procurement costs, start taking advantage of IT procurement partners who are specialists at streamlining the IT procurement process and who know about hidden cost-saving strategies that most organizations don't.