The Messy Costs of Multi-vendor Management

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Most IT environments today have infrastructures containing multiple technologies from multiple vendors, supported by multiple services contracts. Managing

such a complex environment can get ‘messy’ when too much time and money is wasted on simple, run-of-the-mill tasks.

The Messy Costs of Multi-vendor Management


One in a series of 6 insights related to Secrets and strategies

to long-term cost savings on the network

What it really costs to support your network

Think for a moment how much time your IT division spends simply managing calls to vendors. It’s easy to lose focus on the things your IT department should be doing to add more value, things like innovation and transformation. You want your people to spend more time making the business better and less time simply ensuring the business runs as usual.

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The largest share of networks support costs has little to do with the price of their support contracts

and far more to do with how the multi-vendor estate is managed.




How to do it well: One number to call (for all/majority vendors)

Environments can sometimes sprawl to more than 30 vendors, considering all regions and countries of presence.



The solution, however, is the same for all: employing the services of a single systems integrator to manage your vendors and support contracts on your behalf. It’s the central benefit of service aggregation: having one number to call when things go wrong.


How to do it well: Co-terming of contracts In a typical estate of between 10-30 vendors, clients would tend to have a support agreement with each individual vendor







Co-terming means consolidating all contracts on a fiscal calendar so that all renewals are synchronised and occur at the designated time. It is extremely critical for some areas such as security that cannot be exposed to risk unnecessarily.


How to do it well: Good partnering

Not all systems integrators are up to the task of services and contract aggregation in equal measure You should look for a combination of factors that contribute to a partner’s suitability.




Good partnering continued …

Ask how the services will be delivered, how well is your partner geared – in terms of its systems, processes, and infrastructure – to deliver the services to a consistent standard around the world. Most importantly, partner with a systems integrator that understands your environment – even to the point of helping you design your architecture.




Seeking a Services aggregator

You need your services aggregator to have a high level of expertise across a broad range of the vendors you have in your estate. If the partner’s range is too narrow, it would probably pressure you to refresh and transition parts of your estate – which is not always ideal. If the range is too broad, chances are the partner will have to outsource a lot of the support to third parties.




Copyright © 2014 Dimension Data

In Closing …



For more detail on this topic read the full article: http://www.dimensiondata.com/Global/Latest-Thinking/Muddle-in-the-middle-the-messy-costs-of-multi-

vendor-management/Pages/Home.aspx

The bottom line is, multi-vendor management gets messy when it’s not

done well, and all of it adds to your total cost of support. Find a suitable services partner with a high level of vendor expertise across a broad range of vendors you have in your estate to act as aggregator.



Related articles to Secrets and Strategies to long-term cost savings on the network:

3 tough Questions to ask your ICT Support Provider

Gorillas on your list – a diversified OEM Environment can lower your risk

Outsourcing your network Lock, Stock and Barrel in Bite Sized Chunks

Lowering your network support costs can’t be done blindfolded

Service Providers and OEMs Better Together

http://www.dimensiondata.com/Global/Latest-Thinking/Three-tough-questions-to-ask-your-ICT-Support-Provider/Pages/Home.aspx

http://www.dimensiondata.com/Global/Latest-Thinking/Gorillas-on-your-list-a-diversified-OEM-environment-can-lower-your-risk/Pages/Home.aspx

http://www.dimensiondata.com/Global/Latest-Thinking/Outsourcing-Your-Network-Lock-Stock-and-Barrel-or-Bite-Sized-Chunks/Pages/Home.aspx

http://www.dimensiondata.com/Global/Latest-Thinking/Lowering-your-network-support-costs-can't-be-done-blindfolded/pages/home.aspx

http://www.dimensiondata.com/Global/Latest-Thinking/Service-providers-and-OEMs-better-together-in-serving-big-business/Pages/Home.aspx

Technology

The Messy Costs of Multi-vendor Management