Moving beyond this stage - from calendars and Post-its to direct materials (the stuff that goes into your product) and the various services that a company buys, such as consulting, auditing or janitorial services - is hard. If a company makes large purchases of strategically important raw materials or components, it usually does so in multimillion-dollar deals. These are often negotiated over weeks and months, arranging for supplies for up to a year ahead. In such environments, runs the argument, e-procurement adds little value. It may even get in the way.

But e-procurement can deliver more than just lower prices. Indeed, the net impact of its other characteristic deliverables - better productivity, faster processing, greater visibility, the elimination of maverick, or unplanned, ad hoc buying - can have a much higher ROI than what can be achieved by shaving a few pennies off price.

"The bottom line [on e-procurement] depends on your company and what it's buying," concludes Scott Elliff, president of Capital Consulting and Management.

Elliff suggests that a CIO evaluating the pros and cons of e-procurement ask himself the following questions.

Rather than rushing to automate for automation's sake, those are the sorts of factors that require consideration.