Food for thought: Vendor Management

Many CTOs or CIOs have championed the “buy it, don’t build it mantra” (including yours truly).  But the implication of buying things is effective vendor management.  Vendor management – choosing which ones and how many – affects our core ability to deliver service to the businesses we serve.

If we have too many vendors, or poor vendor management practices, we will spend too much of our precious time and resources in vendor dog-and-pony shows, playing golf, managing interoperability conflicts among vendors and trying to herd all the vendors into cohesive IT services.

I believe there is a very real “tax” each time a new vendor is added to the roster. One CIO in an article I read quantified the cost in man-hours of dealing with a vendor. He estimated that a one-product vendor requires more than 80 hours of staff time each year in a best-case scenario. And some vendors can chew up MANY hours with demands for meetings, nondisclosure events and other activities that may be less than valuable from the perspective of getting things done.

Quantifying the cost of using a vendor can be a very important counter-weight to decisions, often made by the purchasing group, that might save us $12 on a product but cost us thousands of dollars in staff time.  (BTW, I have seen many examples of this in “real life”)

One way I have seen to get a handle on things is to place vendors in three tiers according to how much time and how many resources you commit to each.

  •   The top-tier vendors are your strategic partners in software, hardware and services.  Spend all the time necessary with them.  Examples for us include Cisco, HP, Microsoft, NetApp, etc.
  • The middle tier is where the trouble can start. This tier comprises vendors that have a product or service that is essential to our organization. Often, there is a great push to add best-of-breed vendors to this middle tier. However, the investment you make in time to support these middle-tier vendors can be substantial.
  • Then there are the lowest-tier vendors, those that supply standard products or services. These vendors usually require little interaction. Such vendors may wish to become more important, but you should try to keep interactions with them as infrequent as possible.

Other thoughts:

  • What IS our complete list of vendors?  Where is it maintained?  Who has the rights to add or remove vendors?
  • Where is the “relationship” housed?  In the National Service teams or in purchasing?  Seems to me there is a difference by tier.
  • There should be a formal feedback process to our top-tier vendors at least annually on how we think they are doing and what we have coming in the next 12 months that they could possibly help with.

How do you mange your vendors?


iPad Security Vulnerability: Fingerprints!

Apple's iPadI have noticed a security vulnerability on the iPad – fingerprints!  Each time I use my iPad I have to type in my four digit security code.  This leaves four fingerprints telling you very clearly what four digits I use.  Now you only have to guess the order – there are only 16 possible combinations.  Unless I wipe the screen each time this makes it really easy to hack my iPad (if it was lost or stolen).

 - The Wandering CIO


Anti-Virus is Dead!

I have felt the current anti-virus approach is unsustainable and less secure than we think for some time.  But recent news events have really driven home the issues.  (I personally think anti-virus is dead…yep, dead)

Some points to ponder:

It’s less secure than we think because of the “zero-day” problem that nobody really likes to talk about – under a signature-based approach I can only detect what is in the signature file.  An antivirus vendor has to “capture” a virus to create a signature – and then distribute the updated signature to me before I am actually protected.   So we think because we run AV software we are protected – we aren’t.  (continue reading…)


The iPad goes Corporate

Like many people in the Technology world I watched Apple’s iPad announcement this week with intense interest.  Apple's iPadUnlike most people I am interested not in the consumer space  – but rather how could this device be used for business.  How could a new category like this be used?

Opportunities for the iPad in financial services:

Those who stand to benefit the most from the iPad are financial advisers who are constantly meeting clients on the go, says Doug Dannemiller, senior analyst at Aite Group.

For advisers, data visualization and presentation are key. And one of the most interesting aspects of the iPad is its zoom and flip page capabilities, which means it can be shared with a client more easily than a laptop, Dannemiller points out.

“I see the laptop as not a good collaborative tool,” he explains. A laptop computer acts as a barrier between the adviser and client, since it is only one person (presumably the adviser) who will handle the keyboard, hit the return key and flip the computer round to face the client. (continue reading…)


Lesson from Haiti: NEVER, EVER underestimate the power of “ease of use”

Ease of UseMy assistant Kathy told me today about donating to Haitian relief efforts by simply sending a text message from my cellphone.  The Red Cross, via a company called mGive, has got the major U.S. carriers on board to allow people to very easily donate $10 to the Red Cross via a simple SMS text message. 

This led to an “unprecedented mobile response,” and has raised over $10 million in relief for Haiti.  With text donations peaking at a rate of 10,000 a minute, at $10 per donation, this is raising $100,000 per minute!

I had been watching the news about Haiti and was heartbroken at what they are going through.  I wanted to help.  But did I?  Not until I just spent 27 seconds sending a text message. 

Wanting to donate and actually donating are two different things.  Finding the right charity, deciding the amount, finding my checkbook, writing a check, finding an envelope and stamp, addressing the envelope, mailing it – well frankly it was exhausting just typing all those steps.  Not only that but I can’t even imagine finding 30 minutes in my day to actually do it!  This new process cut that time down to less than 30 seconds!

 [NOTE: If you want to donate simply text HAITI to the number 90999. A $10 charge will be added to your next cellphone bill.]  (continue reading…)


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