Open vs. Isolated Information Systems in Strategic Technology Vendor Management.
The Crux Technology Vendor Management is a discipline that is wholly reliant on information transparency.
Open and isolated systems in this context refers to a broad view of transfer of information whether its data, verbal, non verbal, hand written, etched into stone or deposited in small brown paper bags. This is the send and receive data model which now permeates every aspect of our working and personal lives and to be fair always has. However let’s get even more basic for a moment. The Technology Vendor Management Office operates in a company environment and in its simplest form a company is a group of people that do things together to achieve some form of shared objective(s). So IF any one of these behavioural principles you personally struggle with ie. “doing things” or “together” or “shared objectives” you may want to circle back on your life goals. Strategic Technology Vendor Management embodies these behavioural principles more than most other business functions with the added dimension that they require extending out of one organisation and across and into others.
By the complexity that technology can entail these behaviours need to have as their foundation enabler “open systems of information communication.” In fact as a rule of thumb the more closed or inaccessible information becomes in large scale strategic technology business the quicker value will erode. (Note: This is another reason why Sourcing requires VMO as its ally. As commercial negotiation can, and most often does, stymy open communication.)
So the accessibility of information becomes another key constraint that underpins behaviour and value opportunity in Technology VMO. In multivendor strategic sourcing environment the open communications needs to be operating optimally across three sets of boundaries.
Intra-company: Namely across the company technology stacks and various business silos. In the majority of cases this is not a natural evolution and is not cemented by any contract. This can be greatly assisted by VMO Governance committee however in reality some degree of process and systems re-engineering is required. Using a QED Maturity Assessment Tool is a very effective place to start to examine the gaps and re-engineering requirement.
Company to vendor: Central to Technology VMO is the effective Vendor Communication. Without it divergence is a given. Vendor information exchange should be based on two principles i) Information should align to measurement objective or KPI and ii) Commodity non value-add information exchanges should be automated wherever possible. The result is improved data analytics driving key decisions, an increase in real-time objective information and the allocation of more costly resource to greater value-add activities. It's far from rocket science however very frequently overlooked.
Inter-vendor: In multi-sourced strategic vendor environment invariably there is a direct hand-off between technology vendors. I have experienced meetings where the vendor has been oblivious to the fact that it's working with another 3rd Party and not the customer and between them deciding the fate of the enterprise. VERY Not Good. The company needs to establish clear rules of direct vendor engagement and information exchange. SIAM (Service Integration And Management) is a fairly contemporary approach used to integrate inter-vendor and intra-company hand offs. Some companies fully outsource the SIAM layer which can often be an irreversible mistake especially if done without retaining IP Rights over the SIAM configuration and Exit Plan.
Maintaining and nurturing open systems of communication within the Technology Vendor fabric is key to mitigating risk, creating the right behaviour, and shaping a Technology VMO environment that drives opportunity and value.
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