Sections in This Document
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the K3S Recommendations Guide. From our years of experience working with customers who ask many similar questions, we have devised this document to help proactively answer those questions. The following list of recommendations can help you optimize your operating systems and prevent security breaches, saving you the time and money that is often required to correct these issues reactively.
This wide-ranging document covers multiple topics as they relate to the segments of your company that K3S works with to accomplish your buying goals. Some of these suggestions are specific to the buying department, but others are beneficial to other departments as well. Customers who enact these suggestions find greater success with their K3S purchasing solutions.
K3S can answer questions about these recommendations, as well as provide referrals to additional vendors who can help you accomplish them.
PURCHASING
- Buying department regularly follows K3S best practices for purchasing The K3S Team has developed a list of 10 best practices for the buying department to ensure its K3S application is utilized as effectively as possible. This document is available via K3S University (https://u.k3s.com), but is also often printed on K3S training materials (such as mouse pads).
- Buying department is retrained every two years by K3S. With turnover, skill atrophy and performance complacency, it is important to invest in the education of the buyers to get the most out of your K3S investment. This means enlisting K3S to work with and refresh buyers’ skills every two years at minimum.
- Each buyer has access to its own modern, updated workstation. K3S builds its software applications to take advantage of the newest web technologies.
MANAGEMENT
- Company has a company-wide or per location buying strategy. It is important that each company (or each location, depending on company setup) develops an overall buying strategy in relation to service levels for various groups, alternate source opportunities, and forward buy opportunities. K3S can provide consulting services to help you develop a strategy that best fits your needs.
- Company considers Alternate Source strategy. Alternate Source purchasing can be a very effective way for companies to increase profit on purchased products through strategic selection of vendors that offer lower priced opportunities. Some customers have seen an ROI of 10x-15x with a proper Alternate Source strategy.
- Management sets buyer performance targets. Management should set specific targets for each buyer to ensure that the company’s buying strategies are being properly pursued. In order for the targets to be realistic and effective, they should be individually tailored to each buyer.
- Management reviews monthly reports on buying department to create accountability. Monitoring buyers is a key component of a successful buying department. K3S offers a large swath of reports to inspect buyers’ status.
TECHNOLOGY
- Broadband Internet Connection As K3S is a company that relies heavily on the internet to connect and service you as a customer, we recommend at least a ‘Broadband Internet’ connection (defined by the FCC as 25mbps download and 3mbps upload).
SECURITY
- Licensed experts perform a security audit. Any company can experience security cracks that could allow malicious activity. It is recommended with any setup to complete an audit at least once to close all practical areas of entry.
- The entire network is behind a firewall and all external access occurs through a VPN or encrypted connection. Today, with the constant threat of hacker intrusion, securing your network behind a firewall is one of the smartest initial steps you can take toward eliminating the threat of data loss. Any access needed to your local network and server is best served by connecting to a VPN to reach your internal data.
