Founders and CEOs of fast-growing companies unsurprisingly crave (manageable) fast growth, often more than anything else. This can mean massive funding rounds and resulting in high valuations, hiring of top talent, finding sufficient time to focus on more strategic tasks, as well as tuning the all-important processes to build great products and services, which can scale internationally. A key part of the growth challenge is ensuring that team members can get access to competitively priced, high quality IT equipment, often very quickly. Dozens of large, fast-growing companies (including quite a few “unicorns”) across Europe, buy their IT hardware and accessories through Markit’s IT marketplace. Along the way of helping them save time and money on their IT purchasing requirements we have discovered what suppliers need to do to meet the special procurement challenges that fast-growing companies typically face. The buyer lessons and supplier recommendations described in this free report may also apply to other categories, not just IT, and could be valuable to both fast-growing companies, and their suppliers, everywhere.

1. SATISFYING PROCUREMENT PRIORITIES IN
FAST-GROWING COMPANIES
VALUABLE IT BUYER LESSONS, AND SUPPLIER RECOMMENDATIONS,
FOR FAST-GROWING COMPANIES AND THEIR SUPPLIERS.
DECEMBER, 2021
In this report you will discover tried and tested strategies and tactics that
fast-growing international companies have used to successfully source and
purchase competitively priced, high quality IT equipment, with short lead times.
The lessons learned are valuable to buyers and suppliers across a wide variety of
indirect categories, not just IT.

2. SATISFYING PROCUREMENT PRIORITIES IN
FAST-GROWING COMPANIES
December 2021
WWW.MARKIT.EU 2
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
KEY PROCUREMENT PRIORITIES AND PREFERRED SUPPLIER REQUIREMENTS 4
FOR FAST-GROWING COMPANIES
PRODUCT CHOICE & AVAILABILITY 4
QUICK, EASY AND EFFICIENT 4
FLEXIBILITY 5
RELIABILITY AND TRUST 6
A GROWING NUMBER OF MULTINATIONALS AND FAST-GROWING 6
COMPANIES CHOOSE MARKIT
LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR INDIRECT IT PROCUREMENT CHALLENGES 8

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SATISFYING PROCUREMENT PRIORITIES IN
FAST-GROWING COMPANIES
INTRODUCTION
Founders and CEOs of fast-growing companies unsurprisingly crave (manageable) fast growth, often
more than anything else. This can mean massive funding rounds resulting in high valuations, hiring of
top talent, finding sufficient time to focus on more strategic tasks, as well as tuning the all-important
processes to build great products and services, which can scale internationally.
A key part of the growth challenge is ensuring that team members can get access to competitively
priced, high quality IT equipment, often very quickly.
Dozens of large, fast-growing companies (including quite a few unicorns) across Europe, buy their IT
hardware and accessories through Markit’s IT marketplace.
Along the way of helping them save time and money on their IT purchasing requirements we have dis-
covered what suppliers need to do to meet the special procurement challenges that fast-growing com-
panies typically face.
As Markit’s HQ is in Estonia ... Did you
know that Estonia has the most
unicorns in Europe per capita?
Despite a population of just 1.3 million
people, Estonia has been the birthplace
of seven unicorns so far: Skype in 2005,
Playtech in 2007, TransferWise in 2015,
Bolt in 2018, Pipedrive in 2020, Zego and
ID.me both in 2021. That is 5+ unicorns
per million capita.
The buyer lessons and supplier recommendations de-
scribed in this report may also apply to other categories,
not just IT, and could be valuable to both fast-growing
companies, and their suppliers.
“Fast-growing companies are especially aware of the
alternative cost of lost productivity when employees do
not have the most appropriate IT equipment available to
them. They rightly value time very highly and need rap-
id growth to satisfy their investors. Everything must be
delivered on time and purchasing processes must be fast.
They are usually careful with their money, as expected, but
always in a hurry. Traditional IT tenders are not an option.
By the time a typical tender comes to fruition, the compa-
ny may have hired another 100 people and expanded to
several new countries.
So, to aid IT procurement speed, fast growing company
buyers need systems like Markit that offer real-time price
comparisons and stock availability data with local-to-lo-
cal deliveries and local currency invoicing – knowing that
these features equate to competitive prices and short
delivery times.” Andres Agasild
CEO, Markit

4. SATISFYING PROCUREMENT PRIORITIES IN
FAST-GROWING COMPANIES
December 2021
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KEY PROCUREMENT PRIORITIES AND PREFERRED SUPPLIER
REQUIREMENTS FOR FAST-GROWING COMPANIES
• Availability of stock is most important. When speed is of the essence, real time stock availability is a
feature companies desire and, in some cases, expect.
• Wide choice of products to suit varying needs and taste of personnel. For example, tech startups are
in intense competition for the best talent. Talented people do not want a limited IT product choice,
they want the best equipment, and they want it now!
• Approved lists. Some companies go the extra mile and consult their employees on which products
they would prefer from comfort and productivity perspectives. They might have certain monitor
colour preferences or technical specifications or brands they would enjoy using most. From those
consultations they produce an approved “favourite” list of products and enable their employees to
purchase them directly, at the company’s expense. Punchout systems are often used to enable this
to further save time.
• Special pricing for key products. If there is sufficient volume of a particular brand required over a
long term, then the supplier should carry enough vendor influence to help the company secure global
special pricing.
PRODUCT CHOICE & AVAILABILITY
Speed and simplicity go hand in hand. If a process is quick, it is often because it is simple. Fast growing
companies often wish to avoid long bureaucratic processes and get to the nub of the issues quickly and
without complication. In the world of IT procurement that means they need their accounts set up fast,
be able to find and buy available IT hardware and accessories “instantly” and get them delivered in days,
not weeks or months.
• Match their fast pace of growth. Be where they are and where they are going. That means geograph-
ical reach. The key areas are North America, Europe, and Asia. Did you know Markit is operational in
38 countries across 5 continents!
• Fast deliveries. New hires, new offices, new countries – these things happen fast and so people need
the right IT equipment to start working and they need it quickly. Short delivery times are often best
achieved through the local-to-local model so generally there is no need for warehousing and buffer-
ing, unless specially configured devices are required. Markit average delivery time per order is 2.75
days (that includes cross border deliveries).
QUICK, EASY AND EFFICIENT

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SATISFYING PROCUREMENT PRIORITIES IN
FAST-GROWING COMPANIES
• Fast response times. Customer service and account management must be top notch and be able to
handle “we need it now” requests. Markit’s has a team of over 100 dedicated account managers and
client support specialists, and our Net Promote Score is 64.5 and rising.
• Find, compare, and buy quickly - speed and ease of purchase. Buyers want to spend minutes buying
IT equipment, not days or weeks. Markit clients are reducing their IT purchasing process time by 40-
90%.
• Minimum effort with fast account opening and credit approval. Open an account with a credit line
quickly and minimum of paperwork. Most companies can have a Markit account with credit up and
running in 1-3 working days.
• Single account for the whole world. Single account login with access to available stocks in each coun-
try they operate in real time. IT buyers in Markit can buy from anywhere in the world for delivery to ...
anywhere in the world!
• Transparent and open. Single dashboard to monitor orders and other key data in real time across all
countries. Transparency is a key Markit value. In our marketplace you see all the prices, names of
suppliers plus other key procurement metrics.
One should not underestimate the degree of flexibility required when dealing with fast-growing compa-
nies. Situations can change very quickly, and suppliers must be prepared to go the extra mile and “find a
way” to help.
• Delivery to home offices. Individual products or special sets. Hybrid or remote working is the new
normal. Companies need suppliers who can relieve them of the logistical burdens of distribution to
home offices, wherever they may be.
• Delivery to one country to individuals before the entity has been set up, and invoicing another. Fast
expansion often means small teams are in place before company formation has been fully executed –
these people need IT equipment too but invoicing may need to go to head office or another entity in a
separate country.
• Be prepared to grow with them as they scale into new markets which are unfamiliar to them. Consid-
er opening offices in new countries just to help your clients there. A big commitment but keeping an
open mind and going where your customers are is a positive and proactive supplier growth strategy
to further help your clients succeed.
FLEXIBILITY

6. SATISFYING PROCUREMENT PRIORITIES IN
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December 2021
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• Offering options on purchasing. By country, favourite lists, employee access (different user permis-
sion levels) etc. One size does not fit all. Startups may share many characteristics but that does not
make them the same in their approach to procurement.
• Invoicing options should exist. Whilst purchasing for multiple countries may be made centrally the
invoices are often required for local entities in local currency, ideally with local language support if
needed.
Quite often when entering a new market there is lack of local suppler knowledge and with time being so
precious it makes sense to have a single international supplier who already know the local market and
has long established and successful relationships with the key vendors and distributors in the region.
• Professional and reliable. Fast growers prefer professional, reliable partners with standard SLAs (Ser-
vice Level Agreement) who can serve and invoice at a local level. No room for error in securing the
equipment they need so tried and tested partners with local market knowledge are preferred.
• Commitment to driving time and money savings. Proactive account management to help the client
succeed in securing special pricing and find ways to improve the speed of delivery and onboarding.
• Professional solutions to specific challenges. Ideally the supplier should have a verifiable record of
accomplishment in solving, and bring control to, a wide variety of procurement challenges. In fast
growing companies, the speed of growth means not all systems may have been established or run-
ning smoothly. Staff might be “maverick purchasing” which can create all sorts of compatibility and
accounting headaches further down the line, so being able to help establish control protocols is a
definite plus.
RELIABILITY AND TRUST
A GROWING NUMBER OF MULTINATIONALS AND FAST-GROWING
COMPANIES CHOOSE MARKIT
There is number of fast growing companies and multinationals (who are experiencing growth surges in
2020/2021) from Europe and North America using Markit daily to source and buy their IT hardware and
accessories.
Each month we are seeing new companies onboarding or rolling out the Markit solution to new countries
after initial pilot programmes.

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SATISFYING PROCUREMENT PRIORITIES IN
FAST-GROWING COMPANIES
Discover How Mantu (formerly Amaris) Centralised
IT Purchasing And Cut Annual Costs By 10% In 28
Countries
“Markit’s IT purchasing system feels as though it
has been designed for our needs. Our fast, global
expansion means that we value delivery speed and
accuracy, spend visibility and an efficient system,
common to all countries, that can be handled by a
few people. Markit delivers just that.”
Alexandre Birot, Senior Procurement Manager
Read How Revolut Bank In Lithuania Gained Spe-
cial Pricing On Key Hardware And Accessories to
Achieve 7% Annual Savings
“Revolut’s proven market success and contin-
uous expansion means numerous IT projects
to roll out and international teams to support.
It is essential that our IT suppliers can match
our fast-growing international footprint. Every-
thing must run smoothly & efficiently, and with
flexibility when required. Markit’s centralised
purchasing, with local delivery & invoicing and
special vendor pricing have proven to save us
both time and money on our growing IT hardware
and accessory requirements.”
Revolut Bank Lithuania
“LumApps is an international fast-growing scale-up
specialized in Employee Experience. Markit helps us
with ours, to meet our employees’ IT needs effi-
ciently and quickly wherever they are working.”
Blandine Castillo, Office Manager at LumApps
“The Doctolib app has become an invaluable tool for
French doctors and patients during the pandemic.
As a result, our international growth is faster than
ever before. Excellent international client support
from our partners is vital when we are onboarding
frequently in new countries and may encounter a
variety of procurement challenges. Marc, our Markit
Account Manager, has repeatedly gone above and
beyond normal levels of service. For example, we
REALLY needed some laptops with EN layout key-
boards at very short notice. He managed to get
them replaced before they were even shipped, sav-
ing us a considerable amount of pain.”
Remus Nechita, Corporate Information Technology
Manager
Read How International Finance Company Alantra
Made A 70% Reduction In Their IT Procurement
And Purchasing Processes Plus Got Deliveries
Within 1-2 Days On Most Of The IT Products They
Need
“Saving time to allow Alantra management to
focus on higher business priorities has been our
number one achievement. Additionally, we have
secured delivery times on only 1-2 days on most
of the IT products we need. For us, Markit is a
welcome new disruptive platform for IT hardware
and software purchases and process optimiza-
tion which has allowed us to extend our collabo-
ration to a growing number of Alantra countries. I
see a very positive partnership development path
ahead.”
Javier Fernández, Head of IT

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Copyright © 2021 Markit Holding AS
This report is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
TAKE THE CHASING
OUT OF IT PURCHASING
WWW.MARKIT.EU
LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR INDIRECT
IT PROCUREMENT CHALLENGES
Thousands of international companies across 5 continents are saving
considerable amounts of time and money by sourcing and buying
their IT hardware and accessories through Markit’s IT marketplace
and procurement solution.
Markit clients compare prices and delivery times in real time in our
marketplace of over 4 million unique IT products. In 2020, they saved
an average of 12.5% on average market prices and thousands of
hours by using Markit to manage, centralize, and streamline their IT
purchasing. The average delivery time for orders is 2.5 days. Our Net
Promoter Score is 64.5% and rising.
Founded in Estonia in 2003, Markit is now working in over 35
countries. In 2020, Markit’s revenue was 122.6M euros with
estimated growth to 175 million euros in 2021.
To arrange an initial no-obligation call to discuss if we might be able
to help you succeed in reducing the time and money you spend on
procuring your IT hardware and accessories please contact:
Margus Vahemäe
Head Of Sales, Markit
E-mail: margus.vahemae@markit.eu
Phone: +372 666 9905