With IT equipment, it’s critical to secure the best arrangement you can. Consortiums are a good strategy … some of the time.
Perhaps your organization has considered participating in a tech buyers consortium. Maybe you already do.
So you probably paid several thousand dollars for a one-time initiation fee, which varied depending on how much volume your company brings to the table and how much you expect to get from the group. But the potential’s there to capitalize on discounts and pricing structures usually reserved for huge companies.
When it comes to IT purchases, be aware: At times, the usual rules don’t apply.
You’ll have to take some extra considerations in mind:
- Know when it’s better to go it alone. Maybe your company has always relied on a specific brand of PC. What happens when the consortium agrees another brand is best? That may not be a problem. But if there’s a mission-critical reason your company requires a Dell, then you may need to break with the pack.
- Be careful with certain types of purchases, like software licenses. This can be another sticky spot because different companies will have different start dates for the licenses. This isn’t a knockout factor. Just make sure the initial request for proposal includes staggered end date.
