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Winnow it down. Keep an eye out for technologies related to problems that need solving in your organization or projects you have on tap. When Russell of Texas Medical sees a pitch that might fit a project he has on the boards in the next six months, he creates a contact in Outlook and files the emailed product information for easy retrieval later. "Timing is everything," he says.
At Dentsply, Schlageter recently received information relevant to two projects -- one regarding data classification within a data warehouse and another regarding a wide area network. He asked the managers responsible for those projects to follow up with the vendors.
Consider a face-to-face meeting. Dedicating a block of time for vendors to come in to plead their case isn't the most common practice, but it has worked for Tarrant County.
For the past two years, Smith has been holding quarterly meetings where he lays out the county's IT budget and the expectations for vendors. In addition to the 25 or so core vendors the county works with, "we want to hear what vendors have to offer, so we may invite others," Smith says, though all companies that do business with the state must get on its approved vendor list. Smith doesn't want just any vendor rep to walk through the door, either. He asks vendors to send a regional sales manager or higher. "If they show up and bring someone higher up the food chain, that shows they have a real interest," he says.
Smith says the system has worked so far. "For us, we're not bothered constantly by vendors, and vendors know what our expectations are, so they can schedule resources and plan ahead," he says. A private organization may want to handle some parts of the process differently, however. Tarrant County's budget is public, so laying out the details for vendors isn't an issue; private-sector organizations will want to hold their budgets and IT plans close to the vest. Also, competing vendors may be reluctant to sit together in the same conference room and speak frankly. In these cases, Smith and his staff offer to host private discussions during the meeting.
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