Supplier Relations Management
IT is one of the highest spending functions in most businesses, and the IT industry (hardware manufacturers, software suppliers consultants (like us)) is one of the biggest and most sophisticated industries worldwide, carefully designed to relieve your business of cash, time and time and time again. IT is an area in which purchasing skills and industry knowledge can make a real difference to the value of a transaction and whether that deal is a net positive for your business, or another waste of cash.
The cost justification tools used to show you how your organisation will benefit from this or that expenditure are often based upon false premises. Technologies are sold to you too cheaply on the basis that you will then be committed to the ongoing support, consultancy or consumable service that lies behind the headline pricing. Ad-hoc, on-demand purchases are punished with high prices, when planned and consolidated buying would acquire the same goods and services at substantially lower costs.
The acquisition of IT is a minefield of clever pricing and marketing models devised by super salesmen in mega corporations. Sometimes, especially when engaging in critical purchases, it helps to have an external advisor guide you through the technology buying cycle, assist you in vendor negotiations, and generally just help you to ensure that what you buy will be what is needed to meet your objectives, and not just another pig in a poke wearing pink lipstick.
With careful management it is possible to engage suppliers to the point where they actually become the "partners" they so often claim to be, making a positive overall contribution to your business. It takes a little work, but it's infinitely preferable to the more common scenario where they sell and run.
SBA can also provide you with expertise in and support for:
- RFI / RFP / ITT Creation and Processing
- Product and Supplier Evaluation
- Contract Negotiation
- Dispute Resolution
- Contract Recovery
