Most of the clients I work with are focused on their customers and the services they deliver to them. Accordingly, I always receive a bunch of questions related to the Service Level Agreement (SLA; i.e., the contract an organization has with its customers), which is reasonable. But, what I often witness is that many companies get into trouble with their suppliers because they quite often take them for granted and don\u2019t pay much attention while defining relationships with them.<\/p>\n
What does that mean? Well, the fact is that there are situations when your company can\u2019t do everything by itself \u2013 you need someone to \u201cjump in.\u201d And, that\u2019s OK. But, to be sure that you are managing third parties, there are a lot of elements that require a serious approach. Both ITIL<\/a> and ISO 20000<\/a> can help you define (and document) your relationships with third parties (or, we usually say \u2013 suppliers). There are many common elements, but also some differences between ITIL and ISO 20000.<\/p>\n First of all, you can have the best people managing your IT services throughout their lifecycle (from idea up to operational support in the live environment), including excellent relationships with suppliers, but experience says that sooner or later you will get into a dispute. For example, your understanding of requirements could be different, or the requirements for suppliers<\/a> are not in line with the company\u2019s responsibilities towards their customers\u2026 So, having a written agreement will define the \u201crules of the game\u201d between you and your suppliers, as well as what to do if someone doesn\u2019t stick to the rules.<\/p>\n Besides the fact that your agreement with a supplier defines your relationship with them, as well as related roles, responsibilities, activities, etc., it is also your basis for further evaluation. For example, if you need a supplier to deliver a certain functionality, check the database with all relevant data about all your suppliers and process the information. It will give you an idea of whom to work with and whom to avoid. Or, talk to colleagues who have experience with a targeted supplier. A prerequisite should be to have a documented agreement and, if possible, feedback or measurements of the supplier\u2019s performance. When I say feedback, I remember a case when quality management inside my company sent a supplier satisfaction survey. Once all the feedback was gathered, we could access the results and gain useful information while evaluating a potential supplier.The motivational factor<\/h2>\n
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