Duke of Kent presents Queen's Award for Innovation saving organisations £Ms on buying IT
Patron of the British Computer Society, His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, has presented technology services provider, Probrand, with a Queen's Award for continuous innovation behind its Mercato powered IT procurement portal www.theITindex.co.uk
Mercato Solutions has designed, delivered and manages the software technology delivering this procurement tool.
Probrand hosted a presentation to vendor partners in the morning at the Botanical Gardens, Birmingham, and Mercato's Peter Fellows, delivered an authoritative presentation on products for Data and Knowledge Management.
His Royal Highness, The Duke of Kent then presented the Queen's Award before heading to Probrand's Camden Street headquarters for a tour of the business. His Royal Highness also visited partner business Mercato Solutions where he showed great interest in a series of product demonstrations.
www.theITindex.co.uk has been recognised for saving organisations £Ms on product prices and buying process by eliminating the timely task of calling numerous suppliers for best price and stock.
The award is the first to recognise the growing global information economy and technology manufacturing community in the Midlands. With his interest in data and technology, The Duke of Kent decided to personally present the award to Probrand as it enters its Platinum 20th year of business.
www.theITindex.co.uk is believed to be Europe's largest automated online IT procurement site.
It daily updates and compares over 150,000 products and services from more than 2,500 manufacturers and ranks them by best price and stock availability.
The Queen's Award recognises Probrand has achieved the highest level of excellence in improving its performance and commercial success through continuous innovation over the last 5 years.
David Noble from The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply commented: "Probrand has been recognised by CIPS for its procurement excellence in purchasing policies and procedures through CIPS Certification and it is particularly rewarding to see the first procurement process of its type uniquely recognised with a Queen's Award for innovation."
Chris Haynes, Senior civil servant HM Government, said: "The effective management and design of procurement practice are fundamental building blocks for cost effective government. The capabilities and competencies of Probrand's data, design, architecture, analysis and innovative ways of building marketplaces, makes the Queen's award fully justified."
A recent innovation has automated complex e-auctions as an additional step in reducing ICT purchase price and process. It daily gathers product demand from the market before pushing that opportunity back out to suppliers at 2pm every day. Suppliers then have the afternoon to bid price down to win that business.
Peter Robbins, Probrand Managing Director, said: "We are focussed on giving IT buyers the most efficient ways of getting competitive deals on ICT from across a hugely fragmented, multi-level supply chain. We bring a competitive market into one environment where people can buy direct.
"This is the innovation that has interested His Royal Highness personally. It is a huge honour for us to be recognised as a leader amidst the growing and recruiting Midlands technology corridor.
"Continuous innovation and investment in the Mercato technology behind www.theITindex.co.uk is driving the business and supporting our supply chain partners. It is deployed globally for IBM as www.PreSalesAdvisor.net across 37 countries in 22 languages."
www.theITindex.co.uk is recognised by the Chartered Institute of Purchase & Supply (CIPS) for offering procurement excellence and getting people to the best priced products in the shortest possible time. Its financial benefits are acknowledged by the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
To see more of the event's pictures visit www.probrand.co.uk
