Get Ready for the Evolution of Vendor Management

The business/IT environment that demands the vendor management (VM) we have today is evolving and changing, thus VM needs to change with it.
With more core services being outsourced or hosted in third-party cloud environments, IT is increasingly involved in relationship management, rather than technology management.
Those IT departments that are becoming dependent on cloud providers must take VM skills to the next level. Maximizing the performance of your vendors can be the difference between extraordinary success and catastrophic failure.
Adopting SaaS solutions changes business operating procedures and makes the organization highly dependent on the solutions. As a result, the SaaS vendor has a stronger position in, and is in complete control of, the relationship – particularly from a pricing perspective. Organizations need to plan adequately to avoid SaaS vendor lock-in.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

VM will evolve from the traditional transactional model to become an integral component of IT operations.
In the future, VM will be a core component of service management, and the role of vendor manager will converge with that of service manager.
VM will become bigger! VM’s scope of responsibilities will expand to include new tasks, while the importance of traditional VM components will increase. Their implementation and integration into IT operations will be critical to the organization’s success.
Third-party vendor managers will play a major role in IT service management.
Organizations will still need sufficient knowledge of vendor management and sourcing to effectively direct, control, and monitor a third-party VM provider.

Impact and Result

Prepare for the short-term future:

Inventory your team’s VM skills, and identify and address gaps by increasing your team’s VM competency.
Segment your vendors to prioritize and direct your VM effort.
Develop required capabilities to address changing VM goals and priorities.
Consider using VM tools and/or supplier networks to improve your VM function.

Prepare for the long-term future:

Revisit the vendor segmentation approach and re-segment the vendor portfolio.
Rationalize VM tools and systems.
Consider using a third-party VM service provider.

Get Ready for the Evolution of Vendor Management Research & Tools

1. Understand the trends that are shaping the evolution of vendor management

Prepare for the short-term and long-term needs of the organization’s VM function.

2. Create a VM capability improvement plan

Determine the starting point and the action steps needed to improve VM capability.

3. Establish the fundamentals

Understand the processes involved in VM.

4. Build in cloud-proofing

Set and address new VM goals and priorities.

5. Pilot third-party VM services

Measure success of VM providers.

6. Future-proof VM

Renew your definition of strategic vendors.

Member Testimonials

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.