Wai Mun KooPMO Director| Intergraph PP&MSingapore, Singapore
Changing vendor is a common thing as in we do not stick with one vendor forever. However, it is sometimes quite tricky to manage the leaving, probably disgruntled, vendor to avoid any unhappy things to happen (we know how nasty a disgruntled vendor can be). How can we ensure a smooth transition from an outgoing vendor to the incoming vendor without creating too much troubles along the way? What are the DO's and DON'T's to make sure all parties are happy and work cooperatively to achieve the final goals with least friction?
Hope to hear some good suggestions from those who have been there, done that. Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Great post and replies. Where appropriate in such vendor change situations, I am a big fan of thank you letters to the CEO of the ousted vendor person "disgruntled or not" with a copy to them and their boss. Surely there was some amount of something (product, service, support, effort, etc.) worthy of compliment and praise. There is no need to go into details or offer an open door for further relationship and business regarding the decision to change vendors. As one of many things to do, this can go a long way to help create the best possible transition environment for all parties involved. Honey and fly swatters - first try honey, but keep the fly swatter handy..! Saving Changes...
Wai Mun KooPMO Director| Intergraph PP&MSingapore, Singapore
Mark, sage advice.
I like the part on 'first try honey, but keep the fly swatter handy..!'
A refreshing idea where we first boost the relationship to ensure people cooperate and give no reason for them to try anything funny.
In Chinese, we have a similar phrase - "???? [Xian Li Hou Bing]", which means try peaceful means before resorting to force. Saving Changes...
Wai Mun KooPMO Director| Intergraph PP&MSingapore, Singapore
Apology. The Chinese characters turned out to be '????' from a copy and paste action. I have to explicitly encode them so that they can appear correctly as unicode as below.
In Chinese, we have a similar phrase - "先礼后兵 [Xian Li Hou Bing]", which means try peaceful means before resorting to force. Saving Changes...
Great comments by all and perspectives. Assertiveness is also a leadership trait that is necessary to manage vendors from a contract management perspective. Legal issues with contracts requires advice from internal legal staff so the approach a PM uses maintains good vendor relations so they can deliver the products and services requested. Saving Changes...
Wai Mun KooPMO Director| Intergraph PP&MSingapore, Singapore
Agree that assertiveness is important. On top of that, I believe giving the vendor earlier notice so that they have enough time to prepare for the transition and reallocation of resources is also helpful. Saving Changes...
Andrew CotterellTransformation Manager| World Intellectual Property OrganisationGeneva, Switzerland
Sorry to join the discussion so late, but I think that there are two key points to add:
1. Make sure that exit strategy and process are discussed when you first engage with the vendor. When they are trying to get your business they will be happy to explain why they are low risk, in that you can separate without any loss. You can then write this into the contract. This is done as a matter of course when licensing corporate software and I also do it with other types of vendor.
2. The term "disgruntled" should never apply. All the time they are engaged to work for you they are required to do a professional job. This applies up to the very last minute of the engagement and you are entitled to remind them of this quite firmly if they do not perform properly. Saving Changes...
