Why Vendor Management

The dynamics of outsourcing success are changing rapidly. Vendor performance, managing multiple providers, rising costs, the need to quickly adapt to new delivery models are few factors which impact the business directly. The challenges grow, but the goals remain the same: agility, profitability, and competitive advantage.

How do you accomplish the goals in such a demanding business environment?
In any outsourcing arrangement, once the vendor is identified and that the contract is signed, executive management would start expecting delivery on the numbers. This is where the real work of extracting the value from the organization and from the vendor begins.

One of the most common challenges seen in first few months of an outsourced environment is “adapting to the new processes and delivery models”. Confusion of Roles and Responsibilities, pressure of reaching profitability, evaluating and achieving ROI, meeting service delivery numbers and most importantly accomplishing the business goals continue to persist.

How do we manage that?

Vendor Management can offer multiple services including but not limited to managing the vendor relationship, transition, expectations, process enhancement, change management, service agreements and contract management.

VMO can be the interface to the outsourcing agreement for the CIO office and can provide a dashboard to the executive management. It can also act as a sounding board to enhance and strengthen the relationship between the customer and the vendor. By monitoring the vendor performance, it can provide critical feedback to both sides and can be a catalyst to process enhancement and effective transition.

Thus, Vendor Management helps the business to adapt to new terrain (outsourcing), new circumstances and opportunities with fresh thinking and trusted insights. It will actually assist the business to uncover the secret behind the success of sourcing.

VMO Value and Benefits for Customers

VMO can play multiple roles from managing outsourcing strategies and governance to implementing new programs or training and team building or transition and change management. The following highlights some key advantages for the customers.

• Responsibility and accountability falls within one group to manage the service and sourcing function for the business to meet the needs of both internal and externalcustomers.
• Eliminate redundancy, higher costs and service disruption.
• Seamlessly manage internally and externally sourced services.
• Unlock outsourcing's real potential and achieve vendor value‐add.
• Develop and enhance positive customer‐vendor relationships to provide win‐win solutions.
• Reducing customer risk.
• Acting as a sounding board for customers and vendors.
• Facilitating access to opportunities.
• Providing critical feedback.
• Conduct meetings where the goal is to determine how to improve processes in order to achieve mutual goals.
• Provide accurate, fair and usable vendor performance information.
• Monitor, track and document vendor performance using consistent standards.
• Work with the PMO to track vendor service levels performance.
• Produce regular reports and balanced scorecards for the CIO and users on vendor performance.

VMO – Sourcing Gurus Offering – “The Big Picture”

VMO at Sourcing Gurus can offer various services:

• Demands, Funds and Forecast Management :
  Work with various business units, CIO office to understand the business needs, requirements and ensure effective ROI at all stages.
  
  
• Opportunity and Initiative Management :
  Work with PMO to identify new opportunities and avoid redundancy across retained IT and vendor organizations. Manage transition of responsibilities.
  
  
• Service Level and Contract Management :
  Work with the Outsourcing Account Executive to effectively measure the service level agreements and foster effective communication channel between the customer and the vendor. Provide critical feedback and pull up teams when needed for effective customer experience.
  
  
• Process and Change Management :
  Work with the delivery teams to continually enhance the processes for a shorter delivery cycle. Closely monitor changes and transition to accomplish undisrupted services and reduce the cost and risks.
  
  
• Expectation Management :
  Be a single point of contact for both CIO office and the outsourcing vendor to manage a healthy relationship across the organizations and create win‐win situations. Act as a sounding board and take an unbiased stand for effective crisis management.

Advantage Sourcing Gurus!

• Can be your true partner for managing an outsourced engagement effectively.
• Enable a seamless transition to vendors when better performance, terms or service levels are desired.
• Can offer local on‐site presence “close to your teams” with strong support from offshore staff “close to vendors” for effective relationship management at the same time.
• Expand, grow and align the business with strategic partners to deliver results.
• Can promote collaboration between business units and the vendor to drive toward unified customer experience goals.
  
• Build and foster sound relationships to ensure the business is satisfied with performance, costs and customer experience.
• Coordinating activities/projects across geographies.
  
• Can leverage and share experience of managing outsourced engagements at other customers in the same domain.