Buyer VS Print Buyer

When we started designing a web-based print procurement system, I drew from my background as a Purchasing Manager as my knowledge base for design. Now as a good Product Manager I spent time with Print Buyers from all across the country to get an understanding of what print buying was about. Now, after lots of years in purchasing I had a preconceived opinion that print buyers had basically created an aura of mystic around print purchasing, so others in the company would not question what they did and that way their job was secure from other purchasing agents taking it. I must admit today and after countless conversations and interviews with print buyers that theirs is much more specialized than most purchasing agents.
Nevertheless, print buyers can learn a few things from their counterparts in purchasing.

Keep an open mind and look at the purchasing departments process from the 50,000 foot level.
Look at what things look similar to what you are currently doing and then take a hard detailed look at those things they do differently.
Analyze how they would fit into your current process, will they trim time from an already long process?
Experiment, try these things that you think might be of value, and measure the results, (if you need to time the process then do it.)

I had a customer a few years back that the print buyers swore up and down that the way they were buying print WITHOUT a system was faster than with their new system. Management brought in a team of time keepers to sit with the buyers and measure. They would do the project the way they were used to doing it, then they would do the EXACT same job in Cross-Wind. The results even surprised them, they were actually doing the jobs in HALF the time in Cross-Wind versus the OLD way (and it quickly became the OLD way!) The problem was open mindedness, and they readily admitted that they thought it was more complicated doing it through a system rather than filling out the form and faxing or emailing. They also thought it was taking longer to get vendor responses back when really it also was taking less time.
The moral to this little story...Keep an open mind.

If something doesn't work, increases workload or time, then stop doing it! Take the good things from the procurement departments process and toss the rest out with the bath water. In addition, your purchasing manager might find out in the process that print procurement IS different than other types of purchasing and they might even get a deeper respect for your talents! I sure did!