Where’s the Service Provider Trust?

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    Vantage Partners Director Jonathan Hughes tackles the complexities of going beyond the standard forms of metrics used to measure service provider delivery in CPO Agenda article “Supplier metrics that matter.”

    Although the specifics pertain to procurement of goods and services, the advice applies to services sourcing too. Mr. Hughes points out that “…supplier relationship managers spend a lot of time gathering and reporting data to generate reports that provide limited insight, and do little to affect what is being measured.”

    Putting all your energies into creating and measuring service level agreements to use as a stick in getting the performance you want out of your providers leaves little room for the kind of commitment and collaboration you might hope for in an outsourcing engagement. Plus, an over-emphasis on cost savings may mean you’ll find yourself in the position of wasting time and money getting up to speed with a new provider when the old one is squeezed out of business.

    While the author doesn’t supply a ready list of metrics that are worth having (after all, those vary from company to company), he does give a checklist with “seven principles for defining and implementing supplier metrics.”

    If you’re struggling to keep the “spark” alive in your vendor relationships, this article may provide antidotes worth considering.