One idea is to start it as a skunkworks project, with a very experienced and skilled person starting solo.
With the express understanding that, if this is successful, you'd expect them to ultimately lead it (head of engineering, R&D, CTO, or whatever fits).
Greenfield development is appealing, and the big growth potential adds incentive to do that greenfield in a way that's aligned with the goals of the company.
Don't make it super-lucrative initially, to help weed out the serial job-hoppers and the transactional hours-billers who aren't as invested in the long-term success.
On your end, you only need buy-in that, if this succeeds, then company will want to follow through.
With that understanding, it's only a single hire to justify.
If, when you review every 3 months, it's not looking like it will work out, start over with a new champion. Your only lead time is to find one candidate who you're willing to give a shot at it.
It's their responsibility to make the skunkworks so successful that the company is confident in taking the next steps of greater investment.
A complementary possibility to keep in mind is that, if you really execute well on this system, maybe you could spin it off into a subsidiary that provides IT solutions to other companies in your field. (Especially since your own purchasing experience sounds like there's market opportunity.)
With the express understanding that, if this is successful, you'd expect them to ultimately lead it (head of engineering, R&D, CTO, or whatever fits).
Greenfield development is appealing, and the big growth potential adds incentive to do that greenfield in a way that's aligned with the goals of the company.
Don't make it super-lucrative initially, to help weed out the serial job-hoppers and the transactional hours-billers who aren't as invested in the long-term success.
On your end, you only need buy-in that, if this succeeds, then company will want to follow through.
With that understanding, it's only a single hire to justify.
If, when you review every 3 months, it's not looking like it will work out, start over with a new champion. Your only lead time is to find one candidate who you're willing to give a shot at it.
It's their responsibility to make the skunkworks so successful that the company is confident in taking the next steps of greater investment.
A complementary possibility to keep in mind is that, if you really execute well on this system, maybe you could spin it off into a subsidiary that provides IT solutions to other companies in your field. (Especially since your own purchasing experience sounds like there's market opportunity.)