2. 2
2
“A good alliance is like a unicorn. Everybody had
heard of them, but few have actually seen them.”
Tom Hooks Motorola
3. 1. What are the most critical factors in
selecting a vendor or a partner.
2. How to set the right business expectations
to ensure aligned engagement on both
sides.
3. How to keep control of the relationship
while providing the partner sufficient
flexibility to innovate and improve
4. How to measure success and how to
handle failures.
5. Performance Criteria
Financial
What does the vendors balance sheet look like compared to others?
Its trends?
What part of the vendors portfolio will we be
Technology
Has technology investment been yearly?
Where are they investing?
Does it match our strategy?
Process
How do they measure quality? Is it industry standard?
Do they measure outcomes? Cycle time?
Does the measurement match our goals?
Employees
What is their attrition? Hiring practices?
Do they have good talent management plans?
Is there an adequate labor pool available geographically?
Organization
Is there a global account rep?
Are there global barriers?
Do they have structural alignment with us?
1. Continued
6. Long term Mutual Success
COMMUNICATION
Flexibility
Alignment
◦ Culture
Leading Practices in
◦ Technology & Innovation
◦ Financial measurements
◦ Risk Mitigation
Multi-Vendor Handoffs and Accountability
How long are you in this relationship for?
1. Continued
What’s Most Important Today?
7. Trust and Alignment
Communications
1. What are the most critical factors in selecting a
vendor or a partner
8. Get past the dollar and cents, you are in this for
the long run.
9. 2. Continued
Who we are:
• Organizational structure
• Financials & Risk Structure
• Special Programs (Green, Diversity)
• Future Goals
• Financial, Value Proposition, Market Share, Locations
What we are looking for:
• Savings
• Enablers & Flexibility
• Risk Mitigation
• Innovation & Best of Breed
Intros and Want Ads
10. 2. Continued
Are the goals in the same playing field?
Can we get there?
• Costs versus Best of Breed
• Costs versus Risk
• Accountability
• Growth and location
• Short term wins versus long term success
• Dedication & CONTROL
11. We set expectations – But here is reality
2. Continued
Reality
Expectation
Expectation
Expectation
12. 2. Continued
Communication
• Proactive
• Engage senior leadership early on
• Ensure consistent delivery of key messages
• Multifaceted approach to communication
• Live
• Email
• Instant Messaging
• Webinar
• Seminars
• QBRs/Annuals
• Target approach and messages to different
audiences
Communication
14. 3. How to keep control of the relationship while
providing the partner sufficient flexibility to
innovate and improve
Don’t Box Yourselves in!
15. 3. Continued
Governance and Stakeholder Management
Perform Will take responsibility for a significant portion
of the project.
Sponsor Will provide the resources and leadership
necessary for the success of the project.
Oppose Will attempt to block an action.
Allow Will allow the project to proceed but may not
directly support it.
Assist Will help in some way to ensure the success
of the project.
Involvement
Commitment
17. 3. Continued
Governance and Stakeholder Management
Relationship Management
Service Request and Receipt Verification Management
Performance Management
Escalation Management
Project Management
Security, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery Management
Financial Operations Management
Asset Management
Contract Management
Change Management
Communications Management
18. 3. Continued
• Business Case Continually reviewed
• Strategic responsibility kept close to the top
• Multilevel organizational links
• Regular, goal-oriented meetings
• Utilize communications technologies
• Scorecard and Metrics used
Communication
19. .
When things are going well, something will go wrong.
When things just cannot get any worse, they will.
3. Continued
20. Trust and Alignment
Communications
3. How to keep control of the relationship while
providing the partner sufficient flexibility to
innovate and improve
22. Performance KPI Measurement
Financial
Costs in budget
Economic
Technology
New tools
Impact on functionality
Process
Improvement over x%
Full compliancy
Employees Attrition less than x%
Organization Customer Satisfaction
4. Continued
SLAs and KPIs from the contract?
Why isn’t success that easy?
23. Performance KPI Measurement
KPI Service Credit
KPI Service Loss
4. Continued
Win-Wins Gain Sharing?
Why isn’t success that easy?
24. 4. Continued
Define Success
Which metrics are more relevant to your business
Tangible objective
Leading Indicators
End Value or current activity
Manage end to end
Process Improvements
Compete in the future
Purpose of Metrics
Recognize trends
Motivate behaviors
Prioritize resources
Allow benchmarking
Compensation
Alignment
Data Driven Communications
25. 4. Continued
Intended Value - Balanced Measurement
Tangible
Financial
Costs per X
Net Savings
Operational
Speed
Volume Reduction
Defect Reduction
Intangible
Strategic
Innovative
Satisfaction
Relationship
Decision Making
Degree of Alignment
Communication
26. 4. Continued
Define Failure
Differentiate between failure and problem/escalation driven change
Lack of Success
Lack of Tangibles
Lack of Intangibles
Lack of Communication
27. Trust and Alignment
Communications
4. How to measure success and how to handle
failure
28. Business Networking Sessions
Workshops, Forums
Conferences
Trade Shows
Congressional Sponsored Events
Pre Proposal/Pre Solicitation Conference
Vendor Outreach Sessions
Industry Day
Social Networking
How to Learn More
COMMUNICATE