Strategic Vendor Management Framework: How Software Enables Operational Performance Transformation
STRATEGIC VENDOR MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
When it comes to managing services, strategic vendor management framework is essential to achieving lasting operational performance gains. Organizations must address five key elements risk identification and assessment, selection of solutions, management of contracts and relationships, oversight of performance, and post-contract management to ensure best possible outcomes. Technology-based solutions can address each of these steps in much more robust and cost-effective manner than manual approach.
For any organization looking to manage services, an effective vendor management system (VMS) is essential. VMS uses software solutions to unify all aspects of the managed services process, from initial risk assessment to post-contract performance tracking. It helps keep an organization on top of any current or future vendor obligations, provide greater operational flexibility and scalability, as well as eliminate unnecessary cost inefficiencies.
For organizations to reduce costs and improve efficiency, they need to be able to accurately identify and assess quantity of risk, and access range of vendor solutions to meet their specific requirements. VMS with an automated processes to identify the potential risk, recommend solutions, and provide the ability to quickly ascertain the true costs of vendor solutions will save team valuable time and resources.
The selection of vendor solutions is also key factor in the success of any organizations managed services strategy. VMS software solutions provide visibility into complete set of potential providers and quickly narrow down to the best choice for particular need. By leveraging automation too, an organization could make rapid purchasing decisions and easily track performance across multiple vendors.
Organizations must also have clear, data-driven policies and procedures in place for managing contracts and relationships with vendors. VMS solutions provide access to risk assessments, storage and sharing of documents, and periodic reviews to ensure compliance and ensure that all contractual relationships are maintained.
It is also important to have continued oversight of vendor performance using comprehensive metrics, benchmarks, and governance processes. By leveraging VMS, organizations can easily track vendor performance and utilization, and assess whether they have met the service level requirements of the managed services agreement.
Finally, good VMS typically provides post-contract management. This allows organizations to better manage their service desk and ensure continued vendor performance. VMS typically provides user-friendly interface that allows users to review, modify, or suspend contracts if needed, as well as track contract expiry dates and renewal terms.
In summary, organizations looking to improve operational performance should strongly consider VMS. By leveraging automated processes, visibility into potential vendors and solutions, and comprehensive set of contract and post-contract management tools, VMS can help organizations simplify the managed services process, reduce costs, and increase efficiency.
