Hidden Connections

IT Procurement Excellence

About the IT ProcurementMaturity Assessment

Understanding the research, expertise, and methodology behind your personalized assessment

Purpose and Approach

This assessment is designed to help organizations reliably benchmark and improve their IT procurement practices, especially in the context of digital transformation projects. The tool enables anyone responsible for buying, managing, or overseeing IT and technology services to understand current capabilities, identify gaps, and prioritize improvements.

You will be asked to rate your organization's practices across 7 key dimensions using internationally recognized benchmarks. At the end, you will see a clear maturity profile—with actionable next steps—based on your responses.

Expert Foundations and Bodies of Knowledge

The assessment framework draws on best practices and empirical evidence from leading global authorities

International Standards

CMMI

International standards for measuring organizational process maturity, adapted to procurement and IT domains

COBIT

Global framework for governance and management of IT

SEI

Software Engineering Institute maturity models

Research and Consulting

Academic

TU Eindhoven and Royal Philips empirical procurement studies

European

Implement Consulting Group Procurement Maturity Model

Industry

Gartner, Coupa, Hackett, CIPS, and leading consulting frameworks

Current Market Focus: Our research includes current literature and recent market case studies, ensuring questions are operationally specific to today's challenges with cloud, AI, cybersecurity, and vendor management, relevant for regulated and innovation-driven sectors.

How We Built the Assessment

The 7 Assessment Dimensions

Each dimension represents a major determinant of effective IT procurement practice—based on what fails in real-world projects and what drives high performance in the top quartile:

Strategic Alignment & Governance:Leadership, vision, standardized processes

Requirements Engineering & Stakeholder Management:Business alignment, stakeholder engagement, clear requirements

Market Intelligence & Supplier Management:Supplier research, evaluation, and performance management

Risk Management & Compliance:Proactive management of cyber, regulatory, and business risks

Technology & Digital Capabilities:Digital process enablement, integration, analytics, automation

Contract Lifecycle Management:Effective templates, SLA/KPI enforcement, renewal tracking, change control

Performance & Continuous Improvement:KPI tracking, lessons learned, benchmarking, stakeholder-driven improvement

Question Design Principles

Actionable

Focused on one actionable behavior or process, avoiding vague or compound wording

Evidence-based

Draws directly from real criteria used in COBIT, CMMI, Coupa, and Implement maturity assessments

Practical

Grounded in day-to-day reality of procurement, technology buying, and project management

Maturity Scale (1-5)

Level 1

Initial: Ad-hoc, informal, or reactive practices

Level 2

Basic: Some structure, but inconsistent or partial compliance

Level 3

Defined: Standardized, documented, and generally applied practices

Level 4

Managed: Practices routinely managed, measured, and optimized, with leadership support

Level 5

Best in Class: Fully proactive, automated, and strategic practices—leading the industry

What This Means for You

This assessment is not a test or certification, but a roadmap for improvement.

It is designed to be honest, diagnostic, and developmental, providing you with:

Visibility

A comprehensive snapshot of your procurement strengths, weaknesses, and risks

Actionability

Clear priorities for where and how to improve, tailored to your maturity level

Relevance

A structure proven in both academic studies and consulting practice

Your input will help you advance towards best-in-class procurement—enabling secure, value-driven, and innovative IT projects that achieve your digital transformation ambitions.

Ready to Begin Your Assessment?

Apply this proven methodology to benchmark and transform your IT procurement capabilities