* Traditionally, CIOs have had adversarial, often dysfunctional relationships with suppliers. Recently, the move has been towards establishing more collaborative relationships.
* Over the past 15 to 20 years, the IT composition of the budget has shifted from being predominantly staff costs to non-staff costs, but the structure of IT departments has not changed to reflect this shift in budget allocation. IT departments of the future will have more people focusing on managing supplier relationships.
* Customers tend to ignore relationships until something goes wrong, or a contract comes up for renewal.
* The nature of the relationship with a supplier should depend on whether the customer is looking to reduce costs or improve service quality and create value. If it is to cut costs, the supplier can be managed at arm’s length. If it is to improve service, the relationship should be more collaborative.
* Trust is key to any successful relationship. But it is not only down to the supplier to develop trust; the customer also needs to engender trust.
* Part of the reason there are adversarial relationships between buyers and sellers is that many salespeople use dubious selling techniques to close a deal. Suppliers could help mitigate this problem by changing the reward structure of their salesforce.
* Customers think suppliers should know all about their business, but rarely take the time to discover the supplier’s goals.
* When CIOs only focus on obtaining the cheapest possible deal, they are unlikely to develop a trusting relationship with a supplier.
* When customer and suppliers collaborate both sides win: the supplier has reduced transaction costs and lower cost of sale; the customer has more continuity of contact and a higher engagement at executive and strategic planning level in the supplier.
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