What are the best practices for collaborating with IT vendors?

The biggest hurdle to any vendor engagement is understanding the desired end state and the path to get there, which includes compliance concerns upfront. Having precise requirements, scope, and goal and being transparent with them early and often in the process.

Start with why! (Refer to Simon Sinek’s mantra) why is the vendor or partner is engaged in the first place? What is the ultimate objective that you as an Organisation want to achieve by engaging them? Be clear with the Strategy that’s driving the engagement, what objectives and goals that your Organisation needs the Vendor/Partner to Co-achieve, what are the pain points, business problems, opportunities or risks that you want to address as “one team”? Most of the time “contract” is so ambiguously stated that it constrains the engagement in fully realising the value!

It is the unfortunate reality that many COTS (custom off-the-shelf) SaaS solution providers may be prone to dabbling in overly sales pitchy "dog and pony shows" ?? ?? that do not hit the mark of the business from a procurement lens. Realistically, we want to put power back into our hands whenever we are engaging IT vendors on any kind of bidding arrangement. Hence, the formal establishment of a business case is imperative in ensuring that the organizational KPIs of your business are in alignment with the technical business requirements of the COTS software application that you are procuring. ?? Ideate, perform ongoing critical needs assessments, and clearly define your vision to the vendor as a means to avoid procurement nightmare 101 ??

Choosing the right vendor and managing the relationship effectively can be the difference between achieving your goals or failing. While price may be a factor in your decision, you'll soon realize that reliability, clarity, trust, and commitment are often worth paying more for. This is really what you need to keep in mind when you define your own goals and expectations. Also, make sure you communicate it properly with your vendor.

One particularly noteworthy partnership involves an IVR vendor. The seller obtained a thorough understanding of the special environment and requirements of our organization through fruitful discussions. Modern technology was introduced as a result of this insight, revolutionizing our contact centre operations and making them more effective and customer-focused. We were able to change our procedures by harnessing the potential of creativity as a result of these dialogues. Clear communication, a dedication to shared goals, and a culture of continual development are the foundations of productive partnerships with IT vendors.

An early deliverable should be a RACI chart that clearly shows on both the vendor and consumer side what each role is and the responsibilities of that role. This can include documents like shared responsibility models, escalation paths, and expected SLA/SLO's.

1. Clarity. If you don’t know what you need you don’t know what to ask for. Make sure that requirements are adequately documented and socialized before speaking to vendors. Fishing expeditions can be costly to both buyers and sellers. 2. Cold inmails on Linked-In? That’s not selling, that’s spamming potential buyers and could cost your brand. People buy from people that they trust. Build relationships first.

In structured organizations where different departments manage the same vendor, confusion and relationship problems can easily arise. To avoid this, it is important to establish internal ground rules defining who, what, and how to work effectively with vendors.

The importance of performance monitoring cannot be emphasized more, be it an IT vendor, or any supplier-purchaser relationship. However, what can make a difference, is the posture this performance monitoring and evaluation takes. Is it there because the contracts said so (both organizations half heartedly get the reports done), or because the purchaser has an inherent doubt/suspicion on the performance (turns into a hostile exercise where the vendor may see this as an LD looming over their head), or lastly, a way for both parties to improve the service/project delivery. The last case is what both organizations should strive for.

RETROSPECT regularly and continuously , It's the best way to find out room for improvement as well to praise vendor for their contribution.

??Consider utilizing IT vendor scorecards as a means to critically evaluate and monitor whether the vendor is in alignment with the baseline KPIs (e.g., must have functional criteria) that you have communicated to them at the onset of the procurement engagement. If there is any overt deviation from the agreed-upon metrics and indicators in the scorecard, there must be a consensus on arriving at a compromise. E.g., if the IT vendor in question cannot support a native integration to your existing HR Payroll application, see if they can build out a custom data integration via an API, or some other workaround to ensure that a given KPI metric (e.g., integration) is met. Otherwise, it might be prudent to move on and consider options elsewhere.

Be clear about what is important to you in a vendor relationship, whether it's on-time delivery, volume discounts, or something else. Don't underestimate a vendor's ability to understand your business and your ultimate goals. You may be surprised at the solutions they offer, even if you didn't know you needed them.

In my opinion, ISO 27001 with ISMS is an ideal choice when it comes to addressing this issue. It boasts international recognition and is a standard that most IT vendors are required to adhere to. In our case, we've found that the ITIL framework greatly benefits from the risk and security assessments provided by ISO 27001. ??? #Cybersecurity #ISO27001 #ITIL

IT Sec / Risk Management process is great tool to handle the uncertainty. This way enterprise assets are protected as well there is a documented plan in place to deal with it. The basic Idea it to check every possible leak and be ready to face it. Setting up Change control board is always a good way to deal with changes and also help to take sincere decision faster.

Something to consider as a purchaser is am I just buying a product or service or do I need a partnership? If an "off the shelf" solution meets all your requirements, just buying a product is easy. If you are looking for something more complex, a true partnership is what you looking for which requires trust and support from both sides.

In my experience, when I find a trustworthy and reliable vendor, I end up considering them part of my team. Sharing information, building trust, and developing a solid relationship leads to very successful collaborations. It may sound a little extreme, but inviting the vendor to some of your staff meetings, sharing your annual goals, and asking for help rather than just products can benefit both parties.

I) Evaluate and entertain the art of the possible! It is easy for many members of the IT/SaaS/Vendor procurement team to run into analysis paralysis ?Obsessing and mulling over "perfect requirements" is never an easy task. Define and refine as you go. II) ??+??+??Keep a steady eye on market trend sources (e.g., TechTarget News) in a given software coverage area (e.g., IT Service Management tools). This type of market research is invaluable in order to make a more concerted effort to learn more about the specific features of solutions that you are after in a particular market space. III) A no-brainer here, but always involve IT in any kind of SaaS-related procurement decision. Especially when support plays a critical role in maintenance.

Leverage on the strengths of your IT vendor’s methodology and respect them. Do not let your company’s methodologies clash with theirs. Many operations struggle to achieve a steady state due to internal interests getting on top of vendor’s efficiency and effectiveness. There are companies that hire consultants to improve internal ways of working and due to clashing imposition of company internal rules and introduction of new methods, more often it leaves no flexibility to IT vendors to influence the stability of processes through their tested methods from years of experience.

To collaborate effectively with IT vendors, follow these key practices: define clear goals, assign roles, monitor performance, manage risks, and build trust. These steps create a strong partnership, whether you're procuring products or engaging in long-term collaborations.

Most of the posts are very insightful, I would add Supplier Risk Assessment and SOC checklist to review access to organizational data while evaluating and onboarding the supplier.