Well-designed vendor management helps you control spending. It simplifies buying and gets the greatest vendor offers. An effective framework enhances all aspects of vendor management.
This guide outlines vendor management frameworks, their importance, and how to utilise them in your firm.
What is vendor management framework?
The VMF is the company’s vendor selection, assessment, onboarding, and management process.
A well-designed vendor governance system helps.
- Enhance vendor performance
- Reduce security risk
- Following laws and regulations
- Have good vendor relations
- Measure performance.
- Remove vendor management bottlenecks
Vendor framework advantages
Creating a vendor governance framework to help internal teams manage vendor relationships has many benefits:
Management of performance
A vendor governance approach lets you hold providers to performance criteria.
Using vendor performance data to increase productivity and supplier management supports your standards.
Better vendor relations
Established vendor frameworks improve vendor relations. This book describes contracts, aids software contract negotiations, and sets vendor expectations.
Better vendor partnerships also reduce vendor management costs, saving teams money.
Cost-saving
Business SaaS purchases might be cheaper using vendor management frameworks. Frameworks help pick good vendors, buy faster, and monitor vendor performance, saving money.
Improved contract management
Your team can handle contracts, documentation, and revisions with a strong vendor governance structure and management system. Your organisation also manages contracts with due diligence to maintain internal compliance, rules, and best practices.
Risk-controlled management
A vendor management framework reduces SaaS buying risk through organised appraisals, contract negotiations, and performance monitoring. These measures reduce toxic vendor relationships such cyber attacks, performance concerns, and PR issues.
Three vendor management frameworks
Most firms use one of these frameworks:
Manage vendors centrally
A centralised vendor framework simulates a central vendor management office by centralising vendor activities, tasks, and data under one dashboard. One individual or a small group makes vendor management choices.
Communication is rapid and complex projects are completed faster with centralised vendor management. Due to the simplicity of vendor administration, procedures and norms are standardised.
Decentralised vendor management
Decentralised vendor frameworks allow departments to directly contact vendors. Each business line manages vendors, including budgeting, spending, contracts, and relationships.
Every corporate department has more control over vendor relationships with decentralised vendor management. Thus, approval processes are faster and vendor transactions may be faster.
Using too many resources, a decentralised system can soon become expensive. It can also lead to costly company practices like maverick spending. Thus, decentralised management is rarely best.
Hybrid vendor management
As the name implies, hybrid VMFs combine the benefits of centralised and decentralised systems with vendor control. Compliance and best practices are monitored by a central vendor management team. While maintaining internal autonomy, a hybrid strategy lets the organisation explore vendor ties.
Large companies like hybrid vendor management.
Framework components for vendor management
VMF components vary by company size. It will also adjust for long-term and short-term goals and supply chain complexity.
Procurement leaders should tailor the vendor framework to the company’s needs while adhering to legislation.
The main components of a vendor management framework are:
A choice of vendors
Businesses buying new SaaS solutions must choose a vendor. Strategic sourcing is one software vendor selection method. This approach determines the greatest solutions for a company’s goals.
Establish vendor evaluation criteria before sourcing software. These standards may consider the vendor’s history, software, and customer support.
Clear criteria will ensure an impartial, fair, and valuable selection process.
Any vendor need stakeholder approval, therefore involve them in the software purchase process.
Different departments, teams, customers, and partners might be stakeholders. SaaS buyers may secure support by gaining “yes” from all stakeholders.
Risk assessment
A vendor risk assessment approach protects SaaS buyers and managers against dangers.
Choosing vendors and managing them well can shield a company from several problems. This governance helps firms discover and minimise security issues.
Verifying providers’ security policies ensures sensitive data is protected. Companies handling confidential information or in security-vulnerable industries need this examination.
Choosing trustworthy vendors can help a company avoid operational disruptions and reputation damage. You can evaluate providers based on their track record, reputation, and capabilities.
Managing contracts
Getting the best vendor deal requires SaaS contract management. Centralising contracts with a vendor management system streamlines the process.
Businesses may simply manage vendor relationships with a specialised system. It updates contracts and follows vendor management policies.
Contract management for supplier onboarding and offboarding is crucial in addition to vendor relationship management.
Strong supplier-vendor partnerships require SaaS contract management. Contract planning and management can help firms acquire the greatest vendor terms and value, improving performance.
Keep track and report
Build a vendor framework with KPIs for your business. Monitor and report framework results.
Your approach lets stakeholders oversee vendor management and ensure service provider quality. To apply and update the framework, your team must manage it.
Vendor management software aids governance. It monitors your most important vendor framework metrics in real time.
It also saves management teams time for higher-ROI work.
Vendor management framework impacts project management organisation
Vendor management frameworks contribute to project management. These frameworks organise procurement and IT projects for success. The waterfall methodology is used to set project goals and milestones in these frameworks.
Project management can benefit from vendor management frameworks that encourage ongoing improvement and efficiency. Frameworks can change project planning and team goals.
Supplier management frameworks aid project planning, execution, and progress tracking.
A unified vendor relationship system enables team members track project progress and identify issues that could delay delivery. These systems complete projects on schedule and under budget.
