One of the constants in the business world is the need to reduce costs. But cost reduction must also increase profits. Simply taking resources out of core, revenue-generating areas of operation is counter-productive.

This makes non-core costs prime targets for elimination, especially those in the procure-to-pay cycle.

Information technology (IT) is one area of spend common to all organizations.

But managing IT procurement can be challenging. For one thing, IT products are commodities, available from many sources, and end users often believe that where they order from is not important, so long as the product meets their needs.

Technology products are also complicated. For example, ordering a PC with enough storage space, memory and processor speed requires product knowledge and the ability to match cost with benefit.

And as complicated as they are, tech products also become obsolete in the blink of an eye as they are superseded by better products. That means IT prices are notoriously volatile, adding another level of compexity.

Once purchased (assuming the buyer found the correct equipment from the right dealer for the right price), IT equipment needs installation. A PC doesn't become useful until it's installed with the appropriate software, network connection, and user accounts.

All told, the price of IT equipment is only 30 percent of the total cost of ownership. Two-thirds is incurred after the goods are received. And unlike operating supplies and consumables, IT equipment is a corporate asset and needs to be accounted for, and managed, throughout its life cycle.

All of this presents a conundrum for management. If end users are able to order what they want, from whomever they want, they end up with obsolete and incompatible equipment that sits around waiting to be installed—an IT department's worst nightmare.

To avoid this bad dream, companies need to manage their IT spending. One solution is to make the IT department into a service center, not only for approval of standard products, but for pricing, sourcing, ordering, delivery, imaging and deployment.

But this solution has serious drawbacks. It takes skilled IT professionals away from their primary responsibilities, and diverts administrative costs instead of controlling them.

Another solution is to take IT out of the day-to-day process by having end users order from suppliers' online.

Ordering online, however, still leaves non-IT staff with the job of configuring the newly purchased products.

A third solution involves a single source that doesn't leave the end users to figure things out, doesn't tie up IT resources, provides the product and market knowledge required in a volatile IT supply world, and brings efficiency to the whole process.

Enter companies like ePlus, which offer services to help companies manage their IT spend—and reduce its cost.

With a single IT products catalog that offers products from several hundred sup-pliers and manufacturers, these companies let employees source and compare products before ordering them online. Items not included in the catalog can be special-ordered.

Orders are routed through a simple approval process before they are placed, and can be tracked online by the end user through shipment and delivery. Technicians are available for installation, configuration and ongoing maintenance.

Customers receive a single monthly invoice for everything, regardless of who the ultimate provider was, or where the shipment was made.

This means IT spend is distributed to end users, while internal processes and approval policies remain intact and billing and support is simplified.