Vox pop: What’s the most important factor when partnering with a new vendor?

Mark Williams, managing director, Crunch IT 

The most important factor we consider when partnering with a new vendor is technical knowledge about the products. We are quite selective about the solutions we put to clients – we need to know exactly what a solution can do and that will always be driven by technological capability. Because we can’t spend endless hours researching, reviewing and investigating all solutions in the marketplace, we need to leverage the vendors themselves and their knowledge. 

They need to be able to tell us from an engineering perspective how their solutions integrate with existing technologies and what they can deliver for the client. The core group of 20 vendors we partner with typically have these attributes. 

Vendors should also provide structured technical training and about half of them do so – typically the more established vendors mature enough to have these programs in place.

Katie Bentley, chief executive, Trident Computer Services 

Choosing a new vendor requires a thorough investigation through our formal tracking and evaluation system that ensures compliance with our five pillars of people, longevity, integrity, philanthropy and trust. The system helps us establish performance indicators and perform internal annual reviews of our vendors. We can then more efficiently determine the need for new vendors if we feel we need to expand or drill deeper into existing product offerings. 

We also aim to partner with vendors that are flexible, agile and transparent. We also view vendors’ sales management, access to executives and product roadmaps as important. Further, we test vendors comprehensively – we often log a pretend service call to see how quickly and appropriately they respond. 

Ensuring the relationship is not combative is very important. There are always bumps in the road, but how the vendor reacts to these issues is paramount.

Marco Delgado, managing director, Uplinx Group

At Uplinx Group, we have always acknowledged the importance of partnering with the right vendor. Our choice is based on factors beyond just pricing, such as value for money, type of technology and the quality associated with that technology, be it hardware or software. 

We then map that into our business strategy and how that supplier fits in with our existing customer’s requirements or, in the case of generating new business, we look at suppliers with best-of-breed technologies that align with our strategic direction. 

While choosing the correct supplier up front is of critical importance, the ongoing relationship with that supplier and the people relationships are just as important and something that we don’t take lightly at Uplinx Group. 

We view our suppliers as important as our customers and when one combines that with happy staff, doing great business falls into place seamlessly.