Sourcing and Supplier Partnerships
We act for you. We help your team choose its large suppliers and build deals with them that hold up for both sides over the life of the contract.
The problem
A large programme often depends on a systems integrator or a large consultancy, whose contract sets what the programme can deliver and at what cost. Trouble starts when the contract and the work drift apart. Priced change requests arrive every month, nobody owns the gaps between suppliers, and both sides spend their time on disputes. An unbalanced deal tends to fail later in its life, whichever side it favoured at signature.
The work is for the CFO, CIO, COO or board that answers for the largest supplier contracts: one due for renewal, an integrator to choose for a funded programme, or a relationship that has become a dispute. It is the wrong fit if you want a procurement function run, category management, or someone to sign or approve payments on your behalf.
What we do
- Strategy. We help your team decide what to buy, what to keep in house, and on what commercial model.
- Selection. We write the requirements with your team and test each bid against the outcome the board approved.
- Negotiation. We prepare the negotiation and support your team in reaching price, staffing and terms that work for both sides.
- Governance. We help your team hold the supplier to the contract on change requests, milestones and payment for delivered work.
Stephen has sat on both sides of the table. He sold and delivered consulting at Accenture, Capgemini and Slalom, and consulting and outsourcing at Infosys. On the buyer’s side, he spent almost two years as an interim director advising the technology procurement function of a FTSE 100 consumer goods group.
How an engagement runs
The work is principal-led, with associates chosen for each brief. Length depends on the contracts in scope, and each stage is scoped in writing before it starts. Each stage ends with something your team keeps: a written finding, a sourcing recommendation with its reasoning, or a working contract governance set-up. Each of the three stages is a separate commitment, and you decide at the end of each whether to go on.
1Diagnose
We read the contracts, spend and change requests, and interview the people on both sides who run the work. You keep a confidential finding your team can act on alone.
2Design
We set out what to buy, from whom and on what model, with requirements, evaluation criteria and a negotiation plan. You keep a recommendation your own team can take to market.
3Implement
We support your team through the tender and the negotiation, then set up contract governance with named owners. You keep the negotiated contract, and governance your team runs after we leave.