Procure IT Gets New CIO from E78 Partners

Procurement platform and technology advisory firm Procure IT has hired a chief information officer to help establish its software platform.

Phil Ben-Joseph has accepted the new job position at Texas-based Procure IT. He comes over from the advisory firm E78 Partners, where he served in the same role as CIO.

Procure IT's stated strategy revolves around a digital platform that connects IT buyers to IT vendors, and Ben-Joseph will be in charge of the tech strategy beneath that platform. Specifically, he'll oversee a "scalable software stack that supports internal operations and an external IT Procurement experience."

Procure IT's Phil Ben-Joseph

"His hands-on experience in technology optimization will be key in transforming Procure IT from primarily a technology sourcing company into an AI-driven IT procurement leader," Procure IT CEO Randy Jeter said.

Ben-Joseph notably worked for a dozen years at Advantage Solutions, serving as its vice president of technology. That was a $4 billion company, according to a news release from Procure IT.

After Advantage, he joined technology expense management provider and agency Profit Enhancement Systems (PES) and worked as its CIO. E78 acquired PES in 2022.

"Phil Ben-Joseph pioneered IT spend management as a global enterprise CIO and later as the CIO of two IT cost-optimization companies. This rare combination of experiences makes him the perfect choice to be the architect of our IT procurement platform," Jeter said.

Related:E78 Boosts Carrier Biz with Avail Group Acquisition

Ben-Joseph said he has focused in his career on creating solutions that impact productivity and optimization.

"At Procure IT, I'm excited to leverage my experience to help businesses gain actionable insights into their IT spend, performance and risk," he said. "This approach requires further insights into cloud and SaaS environments to ensure they're fully equipped to meet the challenges of today's IT procurement environment."

Tech Advisors and CIOs

Technology advisors like Procure IT and the firms it acquired stem from the agent route to market that many software and service providers use. Historically, few of these companies have been large enough to need a CIO or build their own software platforms. That trend is changing as channel partners bring in institutional investors and build out infrastructure. Columbia Capital-backed Bluewave Technology Group in 2023 tapped Val Milshtein as chief information officer.

In the meantime, various CIOs have joined or formed tech advisor businesses, using their expertise to sell to end users. Guhan Raghu of 3DG Partners, Richard Rodriguez of ClearSync Solutions and Vic Pepe of D&M Enterprise Group are a few examples.

Related:Procure IT Names Serial Co-Founder as Ops Lead

Procure IT Background

The company started through the merger of four tech advisors (agents) and last year closed a $3.5 million funding round. Procure IT has begun rolling out customer case studies. Cogent Bank and a "multibillion commercial real estate firm" are among its first customers. Procure IT has previously cited Raytheon and BlueCross BlueSnield as clients.

CEO Randy Jeter co-founded RapidScale in 2008.