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In today’s world, companies are focusing on their core competencies. Therefore, many different partnership frameworks emerge. Following are the key focus areas of the companies and an explanation of how they collaborate to provide solutions to the customers:
- Product Companies: These companies develop and enhance the product(s). They are typically small sized, but have heavy weight experience and expertise to develop products.
- Distribution Companies: These companies are the sellers and delivery fulfillment companies. They sell the product, package them, deliver and install the same.
- Support companies: These companies provide implementation and post-implementation support. This term is used for packaged retail products, which does not require a major change management.
- Implementation Partners: These are also support companies, but are having a significant stake in success of the projects, which required considerable change management. For Example a company like SAP has many ‘implementation partners’ like Accenture and IBM. These implementation partners provide all services like pre-sales consulting, post- sales consulting, project management, change management, domain consulting, implementation support and post-implementation support etc.
In case of a large project with major implementation work being done by the partners, the evaluation criteria applies equally well on the partners as well.
Strength of implementation partners
Just apply all the evaluation parameters related to Vendor Evaluation, to the partners. The level of diligence depends on the depth & scope of role to be played by the implementation partner
Strength and Structure of Vendor Partnerships.
- Detailed structure of Vendor partnership:
Is it an exclusive partnership? What is the tenure of the partnership? What is the expiry date of partnership? How many projects the partners have delivered for the given Vendor?
Exclusive, long tenured, and successful partnerships are always preferred.
- Structure of partnership for this specific project
What roles & responsibilities are of partner vs. the Vendor vs. customers? How will we ensure that Vendor maintains the core responsibility & ownership? How does the Vendor provide a single point of responsibility across all the partners/players involved?
Any conflict of interest with partnerships
- Vendor Partner’s involvement with the competition.
This is a key one, though one can mitigate with adequate safeguards. However, one does have to understand in detail the work done by the partners (and even the vendor) for the competition. It is sometimes not possible to find an implementation partner who is going to work solely for you.
- Partner’s shareholding pattern having any linkages with competition.
If a shareholder also has a stake in Vendor OR the implementation partner, this can lead to conflict of interest.
PLEASE REFER VENDOR EVALUATION MATRIX Execution-MiHPractice Tool to enable an effective Vendor Evaluation.
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