Connie Allison

Changing Your Focus

Sourcing Looking for lowest price Placing orders

Vendor Management Maximize company’s

technology investments Looking for business advice,

guidance, expertise, value that vendors could provide

Total Cost of Ownership• Qualifying vendor performance• Managing performance

Managing entire vendor relationship lifecycle

Guth, Stephen, The Vendor Management Office

Vendor Management Competencies

Contract Management Relationship Management Performance Management

Gartner, Vendor Toolkit

Relationship Management (internal and external)

This is an overarching role that builds and governs the relationship with one or more vendors. This role is also sometimes responsible for managing relationships with organization stakeholders such as business users, enterprise architects, operations managers, risk managers and legal personnel. The relationship manager ensures that relationships work effectively across all vendors and with the organization as a whole to achieve desired business outcomes for all parties where possible.

Gartner, Vendor Toolkit

BenefitsTo Liberty Relationship quality

• Improved customer satisfaction, vendor collaboration and cooperation

• Improved relationship scores in scorecards

• Responsiveness • Flexibility • Ease to work with • Access to vendors

Gets vendors energized to do business with company

Protects against bad deals if we have long-term relationships

Offers better insights both directions

To Vendors Predictable revenue stream Helps vendor grow their own ROI Development into new markets/use cases Centralizes relationship management Facilitates access to opportunities Provides feedback (ex. job interview with no

response that you were not hired nor why) Private sounding board (ex. guidance on

how to communicate bad news to company) Information about org changes at company

(official changes or change in decision makers)

Levels of Partnerships

Select carefully which companies will be most beneficial to manage

Define levels• What companies are at each level• What are expectations for various levels

Focus: Strategic and Tactical

Sample Selection Process

Sample Expectations

Liberty Responsibilities

Expectation

  Share Strategic Plans

  CIO Planning Mtg.

  Travel to headquarters

  IT Leadership Mtg. (on site)

  Reply to annual surveys

  Routine updates on partnership (call or email)

  Triggered events (i.e. product dissatisfaction)

  New product evaluations

  Sit on advisory boards

  Referrals

Vendor Responsibilities

Expectation

  Engaged Account team (on site, responsive to email, actively learning Liberty)

  Technology Resources and Planning efforts

  Media Releases

  Insights to and influence on product roadmaps

  Assist with multi-vendor partnerships

  Effective support and escalation paths

  Offer avenues of influence (advisory boards, product reviews, etc.)

  Academic partnerships

Negotiations

Maximize benefits to both sides Don’t ruin good relationships needlessly

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Vendor Profitability

Vendor not profiting? Expect it to reduce its own costs or increase fees.

Not getting value? Find value or terminate the relationship.a.Find a better solutionb.Train the usersc.Improve processesd.Invest in infrastructure

Vendor making more

than expected? Negotiate a lower

price, better terms, or higher level of service.

Vendor Renegotiation Drivers

“We used to squeeze our vendors as hard as possible. Now, we understand that they add more value when we let them make some money. We aim for moderate profitability.”-CIO, Health Care

Info-Tech Research Group

What does “trust” mean in this context?

Covey, Stephen M.R., The Speed of Trust

13 Behaviors of Trust

Talk Straight Demonstrate Respect Create Transparency Right Wrongs Show Loyalty Deliver Results Get Better

Confront Reality Clarify Expectations Practice Accountability Listen First Keep Commitments Extend Trust

Covey, Stephen M.R., The Speed of Trust

What happens when:

Things go badly Changes in key personnel Multiple people have varying perceptions

of the relationship

SUMMARY: Vendor Relationships Intentional Focused only on certain accounts Beneficial to both sides Build via Trust• Character• Competence

References

Guth, Stephen. The Vendor Management Office: Unleashing the Power of Strategic Sourcing. Lulu Enterprises, 2007.

Covey, Stephen M.R. The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything. Free Press, 2006.

Various research articles• Info-Tech Research Group• Gartner

Questions?