Getting extra value and managing risk in sourcing deals is a hot topic. Measuring quality of service from third parties is not simple. The process of tracking performance and service quality is often dismissed as a mere administrative difficulty and headache. The difficulties lies deeper. A complex set of actions and information is required to ensure that you get the best value from your relationships with Service Providers. It is about ensuring
- that you get accurate and reliable information on service provision, #
- that you can analyse information easily and effectively and
- that you get alerted when exceptional issues arise. (like service penalty conditions are triggered or expectional risks arise)
This requires an approach which brings together disciplines from Vendor Management and Service Management. But istalso demands high levels of collaboration between clients and vendors. Traditional vendor management tools have met the need to store information in relation to contracts with all vendors. More advanced solutions will also give you alerts when contracts need to be renegotiated. However most will not satisfy your requirements for service measurement and do not have collaboration capabilities.
On the other hand service management tools are designed to provide service assurance. In a vendor management context they don’t really provide you with the simple information you need – are my vendors delivering the service we are paying for? And can I get a simple alert to tell me when service penalties are due.
Managing Service Providers today is about creating an effective and efficient link between the Operations Team who manage service providers on a day to day basis and the Purchasing team who need to take action to manage cost and penalties.
At ServiceFrame we have created a solution which will meet the needs of both the procurement and the service management team. By reaching out to Service Providers and allowing them to enter the performance data it ensures that you have the information you need when you need it. By presenting it on simple reporting dashboards you can spend your time analysing the results not collecting data. Get information per service, per service provider, per country. By creating automatic alerts you are notified to take action – you don’t have to constantly review and check for triggers.
By combining attributes of vendor management and service management – and ensuring good collaboration we achieve three clear benefits
- Better value from sourcing deals
- Better management of sourcing risks
- Lower costs for managing sourcing deals.
Do let us know if you would like to know more about how to manage your sourcing risks and your SLAs more effectively.
