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About: Elgin Ward

Recent Posts by Elgin Ward

U (x) 2 is ALL u can do!

U (x) 2 is ALL u can do!
IP or Intellectual Property may be involved in many deals including Professional Services, Outsourcing, Hosting, SW, Cloud, MX, etc. In all these IP deals, both Vendors and Customers have IP or Intellectual Property which needs to be documented in writing. For a Customer to ensure it has clear and broad rights to use the Vendor’s...
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Audits are like that!

Audits are like that!
Audits are a sensitive subject. It is very common for a SW vendor or other IT vendor to demand that the contract with the Customer permit the Vendor to conduct an audit. It is also common for the Customer to want no audit wording or wording that greatly limits the Vendor’s audit rights. On the other...
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Effective protection against M.A.D.

Effective protection against M.A.D.
Without a practicable REMEDY, a Licensee of SW can be greatly disadvantaged by a Merger, Acquisition or Divestiture. A promise to continue to perform is, by itself, NOT enough to protect against Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures. To effectively protect against a M.A.D, a REMEDY must provide the Licensee with a viable alternative to expensive and...
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Evaluation is key to a good RFP!

Evaluation is key to a good RFP!
Successful EVALUATION is key to a good RFP. Successful EVALUATION in an RFP depends on proper actions by both the Customer and the Bidders or prospective Vendor. IT Sourcing must ensure the Bidders respond simultaneously to all parts of the RFP, including the Contract requirements. The Customer MUST create detailed, results-based REQUIREMENTS and MUST evaluate...
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Who owns the Customer Terms and Conditions?

Who owns the Customer Terms and Conditions?
Every Customer Contract provision, whether for Payment, Performance Requirements, Warranties, SLAs, Remedies, or other, represents the interests of multiple Customer Stakeholders. The Vendor Contract Terms and Conditions were NOT written to represent the interests of the Customer Stakeholders. The IT Procurement professional cannot adequately negotiate without getting input from each of the Customer Stakeholders on...
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One is not enough!

One is not enough!
One Contract Manager, working alone, can hardly by himself or herself discover, document, and share all of the important performance Data needed to effectively manage dozens of contracts. Every Customer Contract has more than one Customer Stakeholder interested in and focused on the Contract’s performance and outcome. A Contract Manager can greatly magnify his/her effectiveness...
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Little successes for daily motivation!

Little successes for daily motivation!
Big successes are important but may not provide needed daily motivation. Focusing on creating multiple small daily successes can be highly motivating for the IT procurement professional. Multiple, small daily successes will inevitably result in desired big successes.  Think back on a recent small success you’ve had. Sure, you’ve had some big successes. You can remember the time...
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Internal alignment can save the day!

Internal alignment can save the day!
One sales ploy is to help the Customer focus on the tactical rather than the strategic, the killer price for standard services while overlooking what other non-standard services might be involved. Another sales ploy is to maneuver the prospect away from any other party who might be skilled and responsible to bring a strategic or...
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Should training include MOTIVATION?

Should training include MOTIVATION?
Every IT procurement professional can and should constantly improve his/her skill sets and competencies. Training which focuses solely on improvement of skill sets and ignores MOTIVATION is lacking. MOTIVATION is more than a regular paycheck – IT procurement training should include non-money motivation to inspire extraordinary accomplishments in IT procurement. While recently researching some techniques used...
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When “yes” is not “yes”.

When “yes” is not “yes”.
Our US way of communicating, negotiating, and contracting is not the only approach used in international negotiations. There are many sources available (people, books, online, etc.) for us to learn as much as possible about business communications outside the US. Our international negotiations will be much more successful if we learn and embrace approaches that...
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How to avoid SOW cost overruns

How to avoid SOW cost overruns
If it isn’t measured, it cannot be managed or improved. Budget-busting changes to SOWs are real and are ongoing problems for Customers. Customers can decrease budget-busting changes to SOWs by setting, measuring, and managing to specific goals.  IT Procurement folks ask all the time, how can we, as Customers, keep SOWs within the FIXED price agreed...
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Might we have a gaping hole in our VRM?

Might we have a gaping hole in our VRM?
One of a Vendor Relationship Manager’s important duties is to collect, store, and share with his/her colleagues Data on Vendors and their employees. If the VRM Data is not effectively collected and stored, much will be forgotten and little will be shared with other colleagues, greatly lessening its value. A successful VRM program will incorporate...
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Are availability and response time enough?

Are availability and response time enough?
Cloud service deals are primarily Service Level deals where the Customer acquires no hardware nor any permanent software rights. Failure to identify key Service Levels and failure to pr­ovide for Remedies for missed Service Levels can plunge the Customer into operational and financial disaster. In IT projects, Availability and Response Time alone may not be...
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How to outfox da fox!

How to outfox da fox!
Software Licensors watch for every opportunity to sell more SW licenses and MX. Mergers, acquisitions, and/or divestitures are often opportunities for SW Licensors to force the SALE of HUGE amounts of SW Licenses and MX. Creativity in SW Licensing by the Customer can result in great future savings during transactions involving M&A or other major...
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Vendor signatures – secret weapons of a customer!

Vendor signatures – secret weapons of a customer!
SW Vendors will be relentless in asserting claims against their Licensees. Only those Licensees who have prepared in advance can successfully defend themselves. One of the most powerful weapons to protect against a SW Vendor claim is the acknowledging and consenting SIGNATURE of the Vendor. Vendors can be relentless in the enforcement of their rights against...
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MAD – get ready or suffer!

MAD – get ready or suffer!
Mergers, Acquisitions, or Divestitures happen in the Software and Cloud Service worlds all the time. Customer contract wording forbidding a Vendor to be affected by a Merger, Acquisition or Divestiture will likely not be enforceable and will be of little help to the Customer. Even if there’s a Merger, Acquisition or Divestiture, a Customer can...
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RFP magic – it can work for you!

RFP magic – it can work for you!
It is very common for internal stakeholders to be biased in favor of a specific Bidder and closed to other alternatives. It is possible to eliminate or reduce such bias by carefully designing and controlling the RFP process to produce objective and UNBIASED results. The responsibility to produce objective and unbiased outcomes must be primarily...
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International – a world of unexpected possibilities!

International – a world of unexpected possibilities!
International contract negotiations include problems similar to domestic negotiations, like what governing law should apply. In looking for solutions, there are many more unknowns and more possibilities in the international arena. Greater success will come from being creative and not assuming the solutions to international contract negotiation problems are the same as domestic negotiation problems. One...
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Software TnCs – anchor or drift!

Software TnCs – anchor or drift!
In a SW license grant, the wording “for its own internal business purposes” by itself is very dangerous for the Customer. A Licensor will fight, debate, argue intensely to prevent a change to its SW License grant wording. EXTREME ANCHORING can be a successful strategy to leverage a Licensor to agree to a License grant...
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Watch out the trap of choices!

Watch out the trap of choices!
Where possible, Customer contracts should contain detailed Requirements written in a results or Outcome format. Even if contract Requirements are written in a results-format making the Vendor responsible for the Outcome, the Customer becomes responsible when it manages the Vendor’s performance. The Customer must focus on and manage Outcomes and NOT Vendor performance. Bill was assigned...
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