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LITIGATION AND PRACTICE SUPPORT
Vendor Consolidation: What's in It for Me?
Am I effective at managing multiple license agreements and
support contracts?
Many of you probably have plenty of practice managing licenses and
contracts. Would having fewer to manage give you the opportunity to
hold your vendors accountable for their service-level agreements (SLAs)?
How oen do I encounter vendor finger-pointing?
Pay aention to whether this is happening. A vendor might be
wasting your time and leading to slow resolution of issues for your
lawyers and staff.
Questions for Potential Vendors
When you have finished navel-gazing, turn your aention to the
vendors that might provide your consolidated services. Questions for
them typically involve cost, support and ease of doing business. Here
are questions you should ask potential vendors:
How cost-effective is consolidation?
Consolidating vendors should save you money, but where do the
savings come from? Here are areas to explore as you question vendors
pitching consolidation:
» Progressive discounting (more products or services = higher
discount levels)
» Lock-ins for growth
» "True-down" provisions for soware
» Specific discounts on "in-demand" resources (for consulting
agreements)
How efficient is support?
The folks on your helpdesk and application support teams would
probably rank support even higher than cost if you asked them about
vendor consolidation. On short notice, can your vendor produce a
report on your open support tickets? Enhancement requests? Average
time to resolution? Identify whether the vendor's tech support group
treats your resources as collaborators or enemies.
Following
consolidation, you
should receive more
attention, more
"insider" information
and more influence
with your vendor.
