University of Sunderland employs over 1,500 staff across four faculties and two campuses. With more than 17,500 students and a largely Windows-based yet diverse ICT infrastructure, the central IT Services department of 33 staff facilitates an annual IT spend for services and faculties in excess of £2M.

Achieving sustained and validated best value on every purchase.

In 2010, Sunderland formalised its IT procurement activity whereby an executive level 'Business Systems Strategy Group' considers IT requirements and finance centrally. With economies of scale improving buying power, the organisation hopes for better discount rates, reduced duplicated buying and less rogue purchasing. The IT department's Dave Hartis is positioned to coordinate ICT buying centrally.

The University adheres to best practice policy, buying through both national and regional frameworks.

Dave Hartis said: "Whilst we have instilled a centralised IT procurement function in a bid for sustained value for money, we still did not have absolute confidence we were being given best value on every purchase. We could often see certain products available for a cheaper price via Internet resellers and therefore we knew there must be cheaper routes to procure those products, but we were just lacking that vital additional knowledge."

After a thorough demonstration, the University of Sunderland adopted Mercato ITelligence - a simple online IT buyers' tool that instantly tells buyers IT trade guide price and stock levels on products. This CIPS accredited technology empowers IT buyers with market knowledge, so they can rapidly negotiate down the price of IT products with their contracted suppliers.

Buyers simply input their supplier product lists or spot check online for an automated comparison and display of trade guide price and stock on over 150,000 'live' products from more than 2,500 manufacturers. The user discovers what margin their supplier is proposing and receives daily alerts in relation to their Product Lists, stating whether price or stock have moved. Management functionality provides insight and validation of current purchasing ability and expenditure levels.

Mercato ITelligence enables purchasers to:

• Identify fair price and qualify agreed margins
• Monitor and track price fluctuations
• Generate automated Request for Quotations to speed-up buying
• Stay on top of market developments
• Plot key market trends to forecast price and stock

At the demonstration stage, the University uploaded a range of historic purchases and discovered that some resellers had been adding margins of up to 33%.

Dave Hartis said: "This tool fundamentally empowers us with deep industry knowledge to challenge resellers and discuss why, in certain instances, their margins appear to be higher than the market average.

"It is providing us with knowledge and the supplier with choice - reduce the price or we'll go elsewhere. We are driving down the cost of IT whilst agreeing fair and equitable value for both parties."

"For the first time ever, we have access to 100% validated benchmark prices. We also save time in identifying suitable solutions, as Mercato ITelligence provides us with only UK-available products. ROI has been quick and easy to achieve".

"We have stretched the reach of our existing IT budget to either purchase more equipment for the same budget, or improve the specification of the equipment requested."

"A key advantage for us is appropriate product selection. We now have access to a complete online catalogue to explore and develop an unbiased product view, including specification, pricing and availability."

"Critically, with more intelligent buying we are exceeding objectives to drive better technology into the learning environment at competitive prices."

"Put simply, Mercato ITelligence stands for common sense in driving down the cost of IT. It is an integral part of our centralised IT procurement team in delivering beyond expectations."

"This innovative tool is driving radical efficiency in buying IT and it is enabling us to balance accountability with freedom and trust in our supplier base. These are critical factors in education going forwards."