The common saying in corporate circles in the early stages of the dawn of this millennium, expressed the readiness with which business was prepared to fund solutions from top-tier technology providers than from some start-up, or unknown business. The adage, “no one has ever been fired for buying IBM” was very common in my early professional life of business integration work. This did not mean that small businesses were never given opportunities to do business with big businesses, but that if you dared doing business with small outfits on core services or critical dependent services and those services were to halt operations, you should be prepared to fall on your sword and accept either a demotion, poor performance rating or even dismissal. To the contrary, you were in a much safer position if the same solution was sought from a top-tier provider such as IBM.

Nowadays I can safely say corruption ruined it all for small businesses doing business with big corporates because novel ideas and innovation cannot now be procured with ease from small businesses. To avoid perceptions of corruption and unfair procurement practices, creativity that was unique to a company and required to be launched quickly before competition got wind of it, is now forced to be procured on an open tender basis, with its features published as tender specifications and requirements for bidders to submit their responses. And sometimes, because of the onerous procurement processes, big corporates are reluctant to sign up small business on their preferred supplier database to enable procuring from them. Inasmuch as I understand the spirit of openness and latest governance enforcement requirements, things are no longer the same. Agility is often lost and bureaucracy has increased. Innovation aimed at small business to big business commerce is thus a casualty. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 May 2024.

Current procurement approaches implicitly place trust in individuals running the processes, but how trustworthy and integrous are those charged with the responsibility to manage those processes, and how aligned to the strategic vision and objectives of the organisation are the actions of those executing those responsibilities?

Understandably, separation of responsibilities, activities and authoritative powers are usually exercised much better in larger corporates than in small companies. I wish there was a way of checking the authenticity of transactions concluded between parties and the spirit of those deals by ensuring the transparency of the dealings and conclusions so that not every innovative opportunity is subjected to open tendering processes. Tendering has its place, and so should other ways of doing business. Corruption ruined it all for everyone that gone are the days a manager felt so empowered that they could decide instantly to ensure higher performance and attainment of results quickly.

Nowadays, and for avoidance of doubt, everything must be treated with consideration of the worst-case scenario of things going wrong and having reasons to justify all actions taken and decisions made. Things that could be resolved within minutes now take almost forever to be resolved. Worst still, there is increased cloud of fear and refusal to commit, much less acknowledge receipt of formal correspondence. Formal correspondence is not even acknowledged, with many pretending to not have received it so they cannot be held to account and expected to perform or “incur” some liability. Such behaviour has the adverse effect of causing unnecessary spamming and “harassment” in that what could have been easily resolved with an acknowledgement of receipt and a tentative date by when the response would be given, ends up becoming death by different communication channels aimed at confirming successful transmission and receipt of business correspondence.

At a human behaviour level, we seem to regress despite our exposure to increased technological advancements. What is even more worrisome, is blatant “thievery” for self-advancement. This happens when the other party does not disclose upfront their limitations or concerns with procurement processes yet string you along to disclose proprietary information about those opportunities, and once satisfied, only then disclosing their organisational operational limitations. This dishonesty is not only time and resource wasting but reveals the self-centeredness of today’s corporate worker.

“Developmental school fees have to be paid”. But not all is doom and gloom! Inasmuch as there are “rogue” elements, there are many progressive souls willing to do honest business with small businesses without taking advantage of them. They show honesty from the onset, of their intentions and in their dealings. They are not afraid and do not waste your time either. They are decisive and can segment the offering to focus on a smaller and more relevant aspect of the solution they are interested in, as opposed to rejecting the entire solution, only for them to build the interesting aspect of your offering by themselves.

Maybe one day, the depravity of man will end, with integrous and honest lifestyles and behaviour returning that all these impediments would be put in the back burner again. I cannot wait for the dawn of such a day!