Vendor Relationship Management

Vendor relationship management (VRM) refers to the process of building and maintaining productive relationships with external vendors that provide IT goods and services to an organization. Effective VRM can help organizations optimize IT spend, mitigate risk, and achieve desired business outcomes.

VRM may include:

1. Establishing clear expectations: Organizations should establish clear expectations with vendors, including service level agreements, key performance indicators, and pricing structures.
2. Monitoring vendor performance: Organizations should monitor vendor performance against established expectations, and provide feedback to vendors to address any areas of concern.
3. Facilitating communication: Organizations should establish effective communication channels with vendors, including regular meetings and status reports.
4. Managing risk: Organizations should identify and manage risks associated with vendor relationships, including cybersecurity risks, compliance risks, and reputational risks.
5. Resolving disputes: Organizations should have a process in place to resolve disputes with vendors, such as through mediation or arbitration.

Effective VRM requires a deep understanding of the organization’s IT needs, as well as the vendor landscape and market trends. IT executives should ensure that their VRM strategy is aligned with their organization’s IT sourcing goals and is well-documented.

The Vendor Relationship Management category within the CIO Reference Library provides CIOs and other IT executives with a comprehensive set of resources that illustrate effective VRM practices. This category includes a range of resources, such as articles, whitepapers, and case studies, that offer insights into different aspects of VRM, such as establishing clear expectations, monitoring vendor performance, facilitating communication, managing risk, and resolving disputes. By leveraging these resources, CIOs and IT executives can gain a deeper understanding of effective VRM practices and build and maintain productive relationships with vendors to achieve desired business outcomes.