Using Questions to Defend Against SW Audits!
Can Fine Print Save the Customer?
Can Fine Print Save the Customer?
By Elgin Ward, Executive Director, CAUCUS Association Sales Reps often view an acquisition as an opportunity to force the purchase of more software. If 2 companies using the same Software are involved in an acquisition, the Software License Agreement of each company must be reviewed and compared to understand the total...What You Don’t Know Can Hurt!
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt!
Every negotiator, as a human, has strengths and weaknesses. It is possible to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the Sales Rep in numerous ways including personal observation and interaction, investigation on the internet, facebook, LinkedIn and talking with other persons acquainted with the Sales Rep. The more a Customer...
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Finding and filling HOLES
There are always HOLES in our processes, all need improvement. Such HOLES can be difficult to see, especially if we are too satisfied with current outcomes. Using Hansei or deep reflection, IT procurement can find and fill the HOLES as part of Kaizen or a continuous improvement program.
I. Ask yourself, how are things going with...
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How we ended up in IT procurement…?
September 2017 CAUCUS Chatter - Internet Radio Show
How we ended up in IT procurement...? Come join the great conversations with Robert Wright and Elgin Ward as they discuss the never ending thought, "How we ended up in IT procurement," and career development, why and how to do it! Always following up in the end with inside...Do You Have Big Security Risks in Your Agreements?
August 2017 CAUCUS Chatter - Internet Radio Show
Do You Have Big Security Risks in Your Agreements? Join us here monthly for the new CAUCUS Chatter. An internet radio show designed for the IT Procurement person in you! So sit back, relax and listen to hosts CAUCUS Executive Director Elgin Ward, and CAUCUS CEAC Chair...6 Common Mistakes in the Cloud
July 2017 CAUCUS Chatter - Internet Radio Show
6 Common Mistakes in the Cloud Join us here monthly for the new CAUCUS Chatter. An internet radio show designed for the IT Procurement person in you! So sit back, relax and listen to hosts CAUCUS Executive Director Elgin Ward, and CAUCUS CEAC Chair Robert Wright speak with your...Innovation to Speed Up Business and Inside a Vendor’s Playbook
June 2017 CAUCUS Chatter - Internet Radio Show
Innovation to Speed Up Business and Inside a Vendor's Playbook
Join us here monthly for the new CAUCUS Chatter. An internet radio show designed for the IT Procurement person in you! So sit back, relax and listen to hosts CAUCUS Executive Director Elgin Ward, and CAUCUS CEAC Chair Robert...Big name Keynotes, Trends from the Mailbag, Blockchain, and Tales from the Sales side!
May 2017 CAUCUS Chatter - Internet Radio Show
Big name Keynotes, Trends from the Mailbag, Blockchain, and Tales from the Sales side!
Join us here monthly for the new CAUCUS Chatter. An internet radio show designed for the IT Procurement person in you! So sit back, relax and listen to hosts CAUCUS Executive Director Elgin Ward, and...Sharpen Your IT Procurement Skills in the Big Easy
Chatter Internet Radio Show
Sharpen Your IT Procurement Skills in the Big Easy Join us here monthly for the new CAUCUS Chatter. An internet radio show designed for the IT Procurement person in you! So sit back, relax and listen to hosts CAUCUS Executive Director Elgin Ward, and CAUCUS CEAC Chair Robert Wright speak with your peers...Three Keys to Failsafe Service Levels
Service Levels succeed when they are designed and carried out to FOCUS ATTENTION and to CHANGE BEHAVIOR of the Vendor. Vendors sometimes are able to subvert Service Levels by influencing Executives with pleas for one-time forgiveness, or just giving small, inconsequential credits. By having Service Levels with the right purpose, pro-actively getting Executive support in...
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Winning the Influence Game
Sales Reps are often masters at exercising influence over the Customer’s Internal Stakeholders. Our success as IT procurement professionals is absolutely dependent on our ability to influence the minds, hearts, and emotions of our Internal Stakeholders. One very powerful tool for procurement to earn Stakeholder trust is to UNDER PROMISE and OVER DELIVER.
Sometime ago my...
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Use “Thanks” to Educate!
Internal alignment is key for Procurement to negotiate better deals. How to get it? Using “Thanks” properly can be a powerful tool to educate customer Stakeholders.
“Thank you” is one of MOST powerful tools Procurement has. Procurement is a team sport – it can’t be done successfully alone.
If Procurement succeeds in negotiating great T&Cs and amazing pricing,...
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Is IT Sourcing Really Strategic?
Vendors and their sales reps are extremely strategic in the use of their time, their expense accounts and other resources, demos, loss leaders, and RFP responses, often gaining the vendors negotiation advantages. By creating or seizing opportunities to be strategic, IT sourcing, too, can increase its negotiation leverage to get better deals for the Customer.
Sometime...
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Procurement’s Forgotten R
The Forgotten R of Procurement is Restraint, meaning ongoing control. While important, it is not enough to address Requirements, Rewards, Risks, and Remedies alone. The Customer will ultimately succeed only if it RESTRAINS the Vendor’s performance to strictly comply with the detailed specifics of the contract.
What is the Forgotten R of Procurement? A good procurement...
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4 R’s of Strategic Sourcing
In every IT deal, the Vendor will attempt to control the 4 R’s if it can. Unless IT procurement intervenes and prevails, it is likely that Requirements will be defined narrowly, Reward (price) will be maximized at the Customer’s expense, Risks will be shifted to the Customer, and the Remedies for Vendor failures will be...
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Learning from vendors – Strategy 8: Review and Recommend
Once a contract is signed and implementation is complete, a Vendor will, at the earliest opportunity, review its positive performance and recommend the Customer purchase more of the same products or services for other departments of the Customer AND recommend the Customer buy other products and services from the Vendor. This dangerous phase requires special...
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Learning from Vendors – Strategy 7: Implementation
Of the 8 steps used by vendors for Account Control of the Customer, Step 7: Implementation is the Sales Rep’s best possible situation. Now that a contract is signed and IT procurement has voluntarily turned the project over to others, the Sales Rep, free from the meddling interference of IT procurement, can focus on expanding...
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Learning from Vendors – Strategy 6: Contract Timing
Learning from Vendors. Sales Reps are often masters at controlling when a deal is brought to Procurement, thus limiting the Customer’s preparation time and negotiation leverage. To counter this Sales Strategy, Customers must understand it and take necessary counter measures.
This is one of the most successful strategies used by Sales people on Customers to control...
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Learning from vendors – Strategy 5: CONSENSUS
Sales Reps are constantly seeking to exercise more influence over Customer decision makers than does IT Procurement. How can Procurement recognize and counter these ongoing Vendor efforts?
This tip of the week deals with the 5th of 8 strategies used by vendors to sell to Customer organizations. We previously discussed how vendors use CONTACTS, TRUST, defining...
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