How a CIO Advisory Can Assist in Vendor
Many businesses rely on third-party vendors to deliver the technology services that enable them to serve customers and grow their business. Sourcing the right relationships that meet business needs, contracting in a way that optimizes spend and managing those relationships to ensure that value is realized are complex tasks.
A CIO advisory is a highly experienced IT leadership professional who can support an organization in the absence of a full-time chief information officer (CIO). In addition to providing advice and guidance, a CIO advisory can also provide mentoring and coaching programs to help develop internal leaders. Often, CIO advisory professionals can even act as interim or part-time CIOs for organizations that have a temporary need for senior IT leadership.
Having a skilled and experienced sounding board to help guide the IT team can be beneficial, especially for busy executives who are juggling a variety of responsibilities. A CIO advisor can assist in a number of areas, from helping prepare strategies for IT projects to identifying opportunities to reduce cost through vendor management and contract negotiation.
How a CIO Advisory Can Assist in Vendor Management and Contract Negotiation
A common challenge that many IT departments face is being viewed as a cost center rather than an enterprise partner. A CIO advisory can engineer a change in this perception by working directly with the business to gather business imperatives and translate those into viable technical solutions. This approach can have the added benefit of fostering a more collaborative and effective working partnership between the business and IT departments.
Another area that a CIO advisory can provide assistance in is improving the quality of the IT department’s service delivery by leveraging best practices and tools for reducing time spent on low-value administrative duties. By automating processes, implementing workflow and process controls, and delegating low-impact duties to IT specialists, the IT department can free up valuable time for more impactful tasks. In turn, this can improve the level of service provided to the business and ensure that critical business initiatives are not delayed or missed due to limited resources.
IT sourcing, procurement and vendor management leaders are often required to evaluate current contracts, identify areas of opportunity for savings and negotiate for future terms. Using price benchmarking data and expert negotiation advice, these teams can save money on IT expenses while ensuring that their agreements are aligned with business needs to maximize value.
The biggest misstep that IT buyers make in contract negotiations is over-indexing on cost. This can result in a deal that looks great on paper but does not deliver the business value that is needed to justify the expense. Instead, focusing on building a holistic service delivery view and seeking mutual gains results in better overall value distribution.
The bottom line is that IT managers and sourcing, procurement and vendor management teams need to be empowered with the tools and support they need to manage their vendor relationships effectively. By putting in place processes and supporting tools like Vendr to prioritize vendors, review suppliers, and centralize spend visibility, organizations can build more prosperous relationships with their third-party partners.