Is your fine print fine enough?
Does your SOW measure up?
Every successful Statement of Work should include specific measurable outcomes or results the Vendor is required to produce. Words like “assist, help, cooperate with, consult, advise, etc.” are not specific measurable outcomes or results. All SOWs, especially Vendor-drafted SOWs, must be carefully reviewed and revised to ensure the Vendor is legally committed to produce specific...
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Remedies – use your imagination!
Clear, concise, measurable Requirements are most important in every contract. An enforceable Remedy is needed for each Requirement if it fails. IT procurement should use its imagination to fashion Remedies that will highly motivate the Vendor to accomplish the Customer’s goals.
A state school system (State) faced a daunting challenge. It was rolling out Computer Labs...
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Benchmarking? The answer lies within!
Every Customer has numerous Vendors who provide Professional Services for IT projects. It is not uncommon for there to be overlap, situations where Vendors are providing the SAME or SIMILAR Professional Services to different Divisions or Departments of the Customer. One Customer group, preferably the VMO, should be tasked with creating and maintaining a database...
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Sooner is better than later!
No Vendor is perfect and most will likely miss one or more Service Levels. If a Vendor does not believe a Customer will enforce SLA Remedies, the contract Service Levels will have little or no benefit. By following up on SLA Remedy enforcement opportunities early in the performance of the Contract, the Customer can convince...
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The Rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from the Procurement Perspective!
As artificial intelligence (“AI”) becomes a more common technology that many think will become widespread in the business world in the near future, there are broad questions to ponder, such as: Is it positive for society to have AI become widespread in the business world? If AI eventually replaces many jobs, how does society/government address...
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Clouds can vaporize!
Using Cloud Services to meet CRITICAL needs often exposes a Customer to a number of major RISKS. Contracted-for Cloud Services can become unavailable for a number of reasons including the CSP’s going belly up OR if it decides no longer to offer the Cloud Service. Effective protection against Cloud Service PITFALLS requires that potential Risks...
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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 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.
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!
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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Do we really have no LEVERAGE?
Every Customer wants certain concessions from a potential Vendor. Vendors, big and small, always begin negotiations with an offer most advantageous to them and often initially say “No!” to concessions requested by a Customer. The IT Procurement professional can get desired concessions by discovering and leveraging what the Vendor really wants, which is often something...
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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 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!
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!
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?
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”.
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
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?
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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