Let’s talk about a nightmare scenario that’s all too familiar.
A new hire starts in a week. You submitted the requisition for their laptop two weeks ago. The department head had forgotten to approve it. When they finally did, the finance team needed “a few clarifications.” Procurement then sent it back with a request for a quote. Now you’re scrambling.
Welcome to the outdated, paper-choked, approval-hungry world of IT procurement.
There’s nothing quite like trying to track down who forgot to sign what, why the invoice never got paid, or where the device went after someone “definitely shipped it last week.” For most IT teams, procurement isn’t a process. It’s a prolonged battle that’s plagued with spreadsheets, email chains, and a lot of unnecessary drama.
But what if we told you it doesn’t have to be like this? The future of IT procurement is smart, automated, and a lot less painful. Let’s find out how.
Manual IT Procurement Still Runs Like It’s 1999
You’d think that, in the era of remote onboarding and AI-powered everything, the process for ordering a laptop would be smooth sailing. Spoiler: It’s usually not.
Let’s break down the traditional process most companies still follow:
- The procurement staff contacts vendors for pricing, negotiates terms, and places the order.
- The vendor ships the item, then sends an invoice.
- Accounting verifies the purchase order, cross-references it with the invoice, and finally processes payment.
Now repeat that process across departments, vendors, currencies, and time zones. Multiply the risk of human error at every step. You’ve just recreated the average IT logistics headache.
The kicker? It’s expensive, too.
Even worse, for some, there would be two additional steps before this: an employee submits a request through a form, and then a manager either approves it or sends it back for revisions.
Why Manual Procurement Is Hurting Your Bottom Line
It’s tempting to think, “We’ve always done it this way,” even when the cracks are showing. The reality is, though, they’re costing your business real time and money.
- Paperwork is a productivity killer: Between forms, PDFs, and emails, the average IT team loses hours every week to procurement admin.
- Slow approvals = delayed onboarding: When procurement drags, your new hire is left twiddling their thumbs (and IT gets blamed).
- Manual work = more errors: Typos, missing approvals, invoice mismatches—they’re inevitable when the process is manual. Every error delays payment and damages vendor relationships.
- You’re probably overpaying: When procurement is manual, price comparisons fall to the wayside. IT ends up locked into legacy vendor relationships that aren’t competitive anymore.
What to Automate in Your IT Procurement Workflow (Hint: Pretty Much Everything)
Not every task in procurement needs a human touch. In fact, most shouldn’t have one. Here’s what you can hand over to automation:
Vendor Selection Without The Endless Email Threads
Smart platforms can automatically compare vendors based on your hardware specs, budget, and timeline. You get the best price without lifting a finger.
Purchase Requisitions and Approvals That Don’t Need Babysitting
Automated workflows route requests to the right people, follow up automatically, and flag issues in real-time. Forget the “I thought I approved that last week.”
Orders, Receipts, And Invoices That Sync Without Errors
End-to-end automation means the purchase order, delivery confirmation, and invoice are all linked. No more detective work trying to match a shipment with a purchase order.
Real-Time Status Updates For Everyone
With shared dashboards and alerts, stakeholders don’t need to ask where devices are. They can simply check or even be notified by their chosen provider.
Data That Helps You Make Better Procurement Decisions
Need to know what you spent last quarter on monitors? Or which vendor had the fastest shipping times? Automated procurement systems keep the receipts and turn them into insights.
Centralized Vendor And Contract Management
Store all your vendor data and contracts in one place, get alerts for renewals, and track performance over time. It’s like a CRM for your suppliers.
Meet Dots: The All-In-One IT Logistics Platform That Actually Gets IT
Suppose you’re reading this and wondering how you’re meant to stitch all that automation together. Good news—you don’t have to.
Dots is the all-in-one solution that brings sanity back to IT logistics. It handles everything from procurement to remote onboarding, warehousing, and offboarding, and it’s built for IT teams that are tired of juggling a dozen systems and a hundred email threads.
Let’s take a look at what it actually does.
Smart IT Procurement Without Vendor Lock-In
Dots uses an AI-backed multi-vendor bidding system to make sure you’re always getting the best price on IT hardware. No favoritism or overpaying. Just solid gear, shipped fast—keyboard layout, power plugs, and specs already configured for your team.
One Platform For Every Step
Need to onboard a new hire in Tokyo next week? Dots has your back, from sourcing the hardware to shipping it internationally with the right adapters and compliance. It even handles asset tracking, so you always know where your equipment is.
Secure, Efficient, And Built For Scale
From contract management to invoice processing, Dots automates the annoying parts of IT logistics. Your team gets transparency, control, and more time for actual IT work.
IT Shouldn’t Be Running Logistics (Get Back to What You’re Good At!)
Let’s be honest: your IT team didn’t sign up to be part-time procurement clerks. But somewhere between chasing down shipping confirmations, managing vendor emails, and trying to get that one invoice sent back again for the third time, they became exactly that.
Meanwhile, the real work—securing systems, improving infrastructure, and deploying cloud projects—is still waiting for you at the bottom of your to-do list.
It’s time to stop letting logistics decide your priorities.
Dots handles the grunt work so you don’t have to. From sourcing the right IT hardware at the best price to tracking every asset across borders, Dots simplifies procurement with smart automation and total visibility. No more vendor lock-in. No more onboarding delays. No more late-night email chains trying to find out which warehouse your shipment ended up in.Ready to break up with procurement chaos? Book a demo now and see how our IT procurement services help you do less chasing and more actual IT.
