Every year, a huge IT business buys thousands of plane tickets for people who do not work for the company. It is one of the biggest buyers of travel services in the world, making use of its supplier agreements with airlines, hotels and rental car agencies.

How did the company in question, IBM, get to that position? One reason is that it manages about $57 billion of spend a year globally, equivalent to almost ten percent of South Africa’s gross domestic product at purchasing power parity. Another is that once negotiated supply agreements are in place, the company can leverage aggregated demand across its customers, because IBM buys on behalf of its Procurement Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) customers and its own account.