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Vendor Relationship Management
- 1. Vendor Relationship Management DouglasM. Start, Information Technology Manager City of Grand Rapids
- 2. Introduction • Grandville, Michigan •B.Ed and M.Ed from Western Michigan University • Teacher, Business and Technology, Grand Haven Schools • Director of Instructional Technology, Grand Haven Schools • Information Technology Manager, City of Grand Rapids
- 3. City of GRIT- 50,000 ft. View • Made an Intentional Move to be Strategic, Sustainable and Industry Aligned. • “How do you retain resources and how do you ensure you have the right resources as technology changes?” • Partnered with Dewpoint as an ITaaS solution provider. • Modernized our “Stack” • Found 34% savings through efficiency and modernization.
- 5. Relationship re-la-tion-ship noun • the wayin which two or more concepts, objects or people are connected, or the state of being connected • the way in which two or more people or organizations regard and behave toward each other. Vendor Relationship Management Vendor Customer/Client Deliverable Expectation
- 7. Transactional Relationships High Volume LowerInteraction Customer vs. Client
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- 10. • Can’t bedemanded. Must be earned. • Committed to on Both Sides. • Define an SLA #1- TRUST
- 11. • You areonly as good as your last _________. • Avoid Drama. • Identify Friends. • Identify Strategic Internal Relationships. #2- Help Your Vendor Navigate the Organization
- 14. • Passive AggressiveBehaviors Can Erode a Relationship • Address Conflict • Seek Resolution • Strategize Together • Bring Each Other into the Strategic Thinking • Give Good Strategy Over Easy Sales #3- Open Communication
- 15. • There CanBe Mutual Benefit From Negotiation • Avoid Short Term Thinking • Look to Share Risk #4- Seek Win Win Negotiations
- 16. • Balance • AvoidShort Term Mindsets • Bring a Sharp Pencil at RFP Time #5- Be Loyal But Encourage Competition
- 17. In Summary 1. BuildTrust 2. Help Them Navigate Your Organization 3. Open Communication and Strategize Together 4. Seek Win-Win Negotiations 5. Be Loyal but Encourage Competition
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- 19. THANK YOU! Douglas M.Start Information Technology Manager City of Grand Rapids Email: dstart@grcity.us www.linkedin.com/in/douglasmstart
Editor's Notes
- #10 IMPACT. Strategic relationships will have a greater impact on your business because it will involve developing a relationship that involves strategizing together, understanding each other’s business and goals, and creating a deeper win win scenario. The City of Grand Rapids ITaaS model took our most valuable internal service, day to day IT, and entrusted it to a vendor, Dewpoint. This is a high risk, but also a high reward relationship. We have to be prepared to help guide our vendor as well as hold them to expectation. No one is saying that successful strategic relationships means you cant hold your vendors to the fire, but it also means not necessarily keeping them held in the fire or throwing them in the fire. It’s a game of my job your job. Your job, vendor, is to meet the expectation set forth in the SLA, and it is my job, client, to set a clear expectation and to hold them close to the fire but not let them get burned. When I say burned I mean drama. We will talk more about this in a minute. Like I said. This dance has more soul. You need to feel your way around here. I was thinking I would leave you with a step by step guide, but how do you step by step something that needs to be developed and cultivated. So I have identified, in my mind, 5 tips to help develop these strategic relationships.