How To Transform Strategic Supplier Relationships
CIO — Forrester's conversations with clients and surveys with sourcing and vendor management professionals reveal widespread dissatisfaction with your most important vendors -- the ones you call "strategic" and/or "partner." They are the vendors receiving the largest shares of the client's budget and should therefore be giving them the best possible commercial treatment and delivery service level. However, it's safe to say that we see plenty of instances in which large providers are guilty of refusing to give money back when they've failed to deliver, or taking advantage of contract vagueness or loopholes.
As with many relationship problems, the friction between technology sourcing and sales professionals stems from a failure to communicate effectively. They use similar buzzwords when speaking to each other, but mean very different things when they use them. This failure to communicate is most damaging in the pivotal relationships that involve the highest expenditure, have the most potential to deliver business benefit, and are hardest to break when things go wrong. Traditional buyer/seller negotiations, in which the two parties focus on their respective short-term goals of savings and commission, are counterproductive for these partnerships because they create rigid contracts that cannot adapt to changing circumstances over time, as well as winner and losers on either side of the deal.
WHEN Julie started her hardware business, her key goal was to take advantage of the booming real estate market. With lady luck on her side, she rented a shop within the environs of the city suburbs. This strategic location enabled her
