Recommended Key Initiative Plan

These 9 initiatives have been found to elicit the most significant measurable impact for professionals in this role.

Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative (VMI)

Jump starting a VMI can obtain measurable results in improved vendor performance, improved efficiencies, and vendor relationships within 90 days.

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Activities

  • 1. Create your VMI Mission, Goals, and Scope
  • 2. Classify and identify your most Strategic vendors
  • 3. Create a plan to ensure you receive the expected value from vendors

Benefits

  • 1. Obtain better vendor performance while improving your vendor relationships
  • 2. Get the most value and return on investment from your vendor ecosystem

Design and Build an Effective Contract Lifecycle Management Process

Understand how a contract management system will save money, time, and mitigate contractual risk.

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Activities

  • 1. Gain knowledge to implement a Contract Lifecycle Management Program
  • 2. Avoid the "renewal surprise" by proactively identifying the term of your contracts

Benefits

  • 1. Understand what Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) is and why it is essential to have a framework
  • 2. Review the ten stages of CLM
  • 3. Create a CLM implementation or improvement plan

Elevate your Vendor Management Initiative (VMI)

Elevate and mature your vendor management initiative to maximize value and performance from your vendors

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Activities

  • 1. Create "Vendor-at-a-Glance Reports"
  • 2. Calculate Vendor Management Inititiative ROI
  • 3. Assess the vendor Relationship Landscapes

Benefits

  • 1. Establish realistic and appropriate expectations for vendor interactions
  • 2. Improve working relationships with vendors

Capture and Market the ROI of Your VMO or VMI

Quantify the impact and demonstrate the value that your VMO or VMI delivers to your organization.

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Activities

  • 1. Collect and understand negotiation and renegotiation opportunities with vendors
  • 2. Identify opportunities for value creation (cost reductions or savings)
  • 3. Track, monitor and report value creation from vendor negotiations.

Benefits

  • 1. Quantifying the contributions of the VMI takes the guesswork out of whether the VMI is performing adequately.
  • 2. A comprehensive approach to measuring the value and savings from a VMI

Drive Successful Sourcing Outcomes With A Robust RFP Process

Leverage your vendor sourcing process to get better results, value, and return on investment.

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Activities

  • 1. Assess vendor sourcing and selection processes to review for improvements in efficiency, leverage, and negotiated results
  • 2. Identify potential sourcing opportunities that will leverage competition to obtain the best value technically, operationally, and financially, while managing risk to the organization.

Benefits

  • 1. A bad or incomplete RFP results in confusing and incomplete vendor RFP responses which consume time and resources.
  • 2. Incomplete or misunderstood requirements add cost to your project due to the change orders required to complete the project.

Understand Common IT Contract Provisions to Negotiate More Effectively

Vendor contracts favor the vendor in terms of allocation of risk. This Blueprint explains IT contract legal terms in simple plain English to help you reduce your contractual risk and to hold your vendors more accountable for their performance.

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Activities

  • 1. Assess IT contract risk and obligations
  • 2. Review critical terms and conditions (T&Cs)
  • 3. Identify negotiation tactics for key T&Cs

Benefits

  • 1. Align contract language to meet IT and business needs
  • 2. Understand and reduce contractual and performance risk

Improve Your Statements of Work to Hold Your Vendors Accountable

Hold your vendors more accountable to get the benefit(s) you desire from your Statements of Work.

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Activities

  • 1. Review common SOW pitfalls, performance risk-shifting phrases, and ways to hold your vendors more accountable
  • 2. Learn how to leverage ITRG's SOW Guide to decrease risk
  • 3. Recognize and understand "Red-Flag" words phrases to improve your SOWs

Benefits

  • 1. Shift the performance risk from the customer to the vendor
  • 2. Understand the power and implications of SOWs, treating them equal vigor as a contract

Prepare for Negotiations More Effectively

Discover a proven process to prepare to negotiate with vendors.

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Activities

  • 1. Establish and categorizes goals; develop negotiation ranges
  • 2. Identify and assess the leverage of each party
  • 3. Develop sound questions and answers to preserve leverage

Benefits

  • 1. Improved vendor performance
  • 2. Maximize budget dollars

Implement Your Negotiation Strategy More Effectively

Improve your negotiation outcomes by implementing an effective negotiation strategy

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Activities

  • 1. Create negotiation ground rules for both parties
  • 2. Understand and recognize vendors' negotiation ploys
  • 3. Evaluate your current situation at the end of each negotiation session

Benefits

  • 1. A better understanding of the subtleties of the negotiation process and an identification of where the negotiation strategy can go awry.
  • 2. Standardize the negotiation process to yield value-add outcomes

Identify and Manage Financial Risk Impacts on Your Organization

Identify and quantify the potential financial impacts of vendors' poor performance

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Activities

  • 1. Identify vendors' potential financial risks
  • 2. Create a management plan to mitigate risk
  • 3. Leverage the "What If" game to quantity the financial impacts of negative vendor actions.

Benefits

  • 1. Standardize your process for identifying and monitoring vendor risks
  • 2. Reduce your organization's vendor risk by mitigating high-risk vendors' financial exposure
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  • 1. Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative (VMI)
  • 2. Design and Build an Effective Contract Lifecycle Management Process
  • 3. Elevate your Vendor Management Initiative (VMI)
  • 4. Capture and Market the ROI of Your VMO or VMI
  • 5. Drive Successful Sourcing Outcomes With A Robust RFP Process
  • 6. Understand Common IT Contract Provisions to Negotiate More Effectively
  • 7. Improve Your Statements of Work to Hold Your Vendors Accountable
  • 8. Prepare for Negotiations More Effectively
  • 9. Implement Your Negotiation Strategy More Effectively
  • 10. Identify and Manage Financial Risk Impacts on Your Organization

Evaluation

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