What are the best strategies for developing new vendors in a decentralized organization?

Yes. Absolutely agree. Assessing your own requirements are the base to search for a vendor. How will you do that? Sometime our own assessments may not be able to foresee the necessities. Because changes are highly dynamic. Your company might not be having the expertise to identify the needs. One Audit or assessment by an expert firm or professional will be able to let you know what are the true shortcomings in your system vis-a-vis that of the market competitors. The findings or suggestions will help you to assess the requirement. This in-turn may be helpful to reach to a vendor for getting a proposal to meet the required goal.

Agreed... To manage vendor we need to measure performance. That's why need to set Key Performance Indicator (KPI) aligned with Critical Success Factor (CSF) in cordination with vendor. Review KIP after a certain time interval and share feedback to the vendor.

In my experience Need assessment is the most important aspect before looking out for vendors. I have seen wrong vendor selection, Vendor struggling to deliver and cost escalation due to mid term goal post shifting. Along with vendor It is our responsibility to make sure that the vendor is successful .Developing honest and efficient vendor goes a long way in creating an efficient organization.

In my last experience with different types of vendors, relationship management & mutual objectives / benefits are key indicators of success for long term relationships. If you can find the solution where both parties can reach a win win milestone & developing this partnership with more incremental & innovative business in the future, the business bond will grow & the relationship will become stronger leading to success in both sides. “People do business with the ones they love & admire”

Assessing needs include data analysis of current patterns of consumer habits which gives you the right insight on either new products or changes in th existing products. While assessing new vendors, these insights can become central idea as in which vendor suits best to fulfill the customer needs basis new insights.

I firmly believe in being "vendor agnostic." That is a successful strategy. Do not depend on or align yourself with only 1 vendor. Your customers trust you because you can solve complex problems and provide a truly vendor agnostic solution.

In my experience, quality wins over quantity. Work with vendors who deliver what they commit and communicate deviations well in advance. Treat vendors like your partners and keep stakes high for them as well.

There are some well respected industry sources that perform extensive reviews and comparisons of vendors and products. At least one includes a matrix showing where each company fits according to specific criteria. They can provide insight in to what the products do well and where they may not be as effective.

Balance for Trendy vs. Scalable - some vendors are very quick to respond to new technologies and build up quick capability but do not always have a plan to scale - so you will get the Best-in-class for POC but few to no resources for full scale implementations.

Leverage your professional network to identify vendors who maintain long-lasting partnerships. From my experience, establishing a mutual partnership tends to benefit all parties involved in the long run. It might be worthwhile to reach out to your network and inquire about vendors that they have had successful partnerships with in the past. If possible I like to have more than one vendor to ensure results are strong. This also provides more options and success.

Outreach to vendors through a formal RFP (request for proposal) or informal RFI (request for information) document summarizing objectives, timelines, business requirements and deliverables is key next step in calling identified vendors to action in providing an initial proposal.

Not only is communication key but be genuine. You build trust through being open and genuine with people. Communicate your needs, be thorough, and authentic. Done and done.

Communicating expectations is critical to the success of the relationship and the output you can expect from your vendor. RFPs, requirements documentation, and any agreement or contract you have with the vendor are key ways to convey your expectations. And you can supplement these with conversations and regular check-ins with your vendor representative. I prefer to work with a point person from the vendor to simplify communications and hold them accountable for commitments.

Implement technology solutions, such as vendor management systems (VMS) or procurement platforms, to streamline the vendor development process. These tools can provide a centralized repository for vendor information, automate workflows, and enhance communication across decentralized units. Embrace the decentralized nature of the organization by allowing individual units to have decision-making authority within their areas of expertise. However, establish clear boundaries and guidelines to ensure consistency and prevent duplication of efforts.

Have the vendor engagement imbibed in your value chain . Unless there is a structural involvement for the vendors to ascend the journey together through aligned objectives there could be differences in outcome Vs expectations . Key values : 1. Partners in delivery of outcome 2. Aligned with vision of organisation 3. Imbibed in the delivery mode 4. Focus on creating value through strong relationships resulting in win-win .

It is critical is to understand that you don't have vendors to manage but you have co-contributors to your business success. The focus needs to be on what experience you want to co-create with the partner for your business. You should have no contractual SLA/KPI with your 'vendor' that isn't based on your own commitment to your business audience.

Documenting end-user acceptance criteria in the scope of work (SOW) and planning to regularly review and validate those criteria are met as part of the delivery plan ensures that critical deliverables are prioritized. It’s helpful to document “must haves” as the minimal viable product, “nice to haves” as the next priority, and “like to haves” as the deliverables that would not be a hard stop for going live, but should be addressed in ongoing optimization.

In the process, it is good to create value for the vendor that ensures vendor can evaluate your asks on the table (negotiable and non-negotiable both), and meet them in a way that maximises total value for the customer.

Consult a good legal firm to draft out a well-prepared agreement for onboarding new vendors and partners. Mention all the terms and conditions clearly. You should always take feedback from signed up vendors regarding partnership terms.

Research market prices and industry standards and Benchmark the vendor's prices and terms against those of competitors. Always. make sure to outline the quality standards and specifications of the products or services you are purchasing. Establish quality assurance and inspection parameters. Define responsibilities and obligations of both parties to minimize misunderstandings. Always include exit strategy or termination clause.

A periodic communication with the vendors and review of performance is the key to a vendor relationship. Also, based on the service experience; more opportunities should be given to test them & keep their motivation high & support to their growth. It’s always a two-way relationship.

Service level agreements (SLAs) should be documented in the agreement and reported on in an agreed upon timeframe. If the SLAs are not being met, the partners should focus on remediation planning to identify the root cause(s), and take corrective action(s) meet SLA targets.

Ensure that you earn trust with the vendor by sharing the best practices, knowledge from your standard play-books that can help ramp-up the vendor quickly, and give data backed suggestions as in how can vendor improve the offering for the end customer.

De acuerdo a mi experiencia, desarrollar proveedores significa justamente colaborar con ellos, acompa?arlos en los procesos de mejora, contribuir y guiarlos de acuerdo a las necesidades del suministro. Y fundamentalmente, que haya una estrategia real de incorporar nuevas alternativas y jugadores en las Bases de Proveedores. Si las compras son descentralizadas y no existe una política de renovar y sumar competidores en el mercado, quienes convocan a las empresas para participar en los concursos, lo harán siempre a aquellos con los que ya tuvieron buenas experiencias y permanecerán cautivos por el largo plazo.

Vendor relationship management is not a one and done thing, but should be an ongoing process. Vendors can be utilized to help your organization to get the most out of their products and systems by helping to identify gaps of use or improvements and efficiencies that can be implemented that other product users have incorporated in their tactics, techniques, and processes/procedures.

Clear set of objective solves half of the problem. Looking for certain set performance of vendor and exploring and analysing 3-4 different vendors really helped a lot in my experience. API interface, Clear objective, defined timeline, maintaining relationships with vendors and set reviews pattern will really help in vendor management in decentralised organisation

This is one big area which should be focused on clearly ! One should ensure for the basics to be correct is a common vendor pool which is accessed across the organization. There should be a common protocol for evaluation so that the same parameters are judged and evaluated which covers the organization need. Lastly, try doing collaborative meetings using virtual meeting platforms to ensure that everyone if on the same page.

One thing I found useful is to use catalogue methodology for vendor selection and communication across the organization. Currently tech tools help real-time communication and collaboration to effectively deploy or made available to other part of organization about new vendor development.

In decentralised model one has to ensure back up planning and identify vendors according to multiple expertise. Multiple vendors must be fungible at available at time of need.

Remember that maturity in an area like this benefits from a focus on People, Process and Technology. Establishing expectations internally and externally, supported by process and technology that compliments each other, helps establish a maturity level that can be expanded upon as necessary. Setting up KPI's and KRI's help you measure success and isolate your areas of focus.