EXPERT SPEAK
MANAGING VENDOR RELATIONSHIPS TO SUSTAIN PROJECTS DURING SLOWDOWNS
Businesses are committed to spending on digital transformation in 2023 and ahead but must review and negotiate commercial terms with vendors says Ranjith Kaippada at Cloud Box .
As we move into 2023 , digital transformation leads need to anticipate the possibility of market and revenue slowdown impacting their annual purchase decisions and ahead . A Gartner survey in July 2022 , found that 69 % plan to increase their spend on digital technologies , while the 2023 Gartner CIO and Technology Executive Survey found that CIOs are being tasked with accelerating time to value on digital investments .
While Gartner ’ s 2023 forecast indicates IT decision makers pressing ahead with digital transformation and IT spending , budgets will still need to be released internally . And that means reviews and replanning with finance .
Moreover , digital transformation leads must anticipate these pressures extending for a period of six months to 24 months . By doing this proactively , technology leads are protecting ongoing digital transformation projects , investments into future innovation and continuing to build resiliency for the future organisation .
Here are some measures forward looking organisations and their technology leads can initiate internally . It is also recommended to bring in their trusted digital transformation
Ranjith Kaippada , Managing Director , Cloud Box Technologies partners into these cost management exercises at an early stage of the upcoming financial cycles .
Here are some steps that technology heads need to initiate in conjunction with finance and business heads .
# 1 Art of negotiation
In order to sit with leading vendor suppliers at the table , technology heads must have a list of tactics and concessions to keep these important vendor relationships in play throughout this period and avoid confrontation . Vendor suppliers will not yield easily to requests for renegotiation and yielding to concessions from customers unless they see immediate and longer-term benefits in their relationship .
Technology decision makers must detail the reasons for requesting concessions from vendor suppliers ; they must be able to convince them that short term cooperation will yield longer term benefits . They can also explore benefits other than immediate pay-outs .
While Gartner ’ s 2023 forecast indicates IT decision makers pressing ahead with digital transformation , budgets will still need to be released internally .
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