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Vendor Relationships That Matter
The crucible for great leadership is people skills: the ability to create strong relationships with IT staffers, business executives and vendors. In particular, as more industry players accelerate their efforts to sell IT products and services to midsized enterprises, vendor management has emerged as a prominent area of expertise.
"I tell my vendors, 'Hey, I understand margins, cost structures and business models,'" says Nick Christiano, CIO of $520-million Health Quest, a three-hospital health care system in New York's Hudson Valley area. "I also understand when I'm being lied to and not."
Having worked "both sides of the road" as a consultant and CIO, Christiano says it's important to have frank conversations about expectations for both sides of the relationship. "I lay out what we expect, and I promise I won't jerk them around," he says. "I will stay in scope and manage my side of the street, and they need to do the same."
Christiano demands a personal guarantee as well as a contractual one. "By the time my deal is done, I have all the CEO's numbers: home, cell and office. If there's a problem, I call my primary rep first, but then my next call is to his CEO," he says. "It's not a threat; it's a commitment. If something escalates to me and I have to get involved, the rep knows his president is going to be involved too."
At Toronto's $500-million Tridel Corp., CIO Ted Maulucci says he spends a "tremendous" amount of time crafting his supplier agreements. "I've got a checklist for the tightest agreement possible," he says. "You want to avoid fights and keep the relationship as pleasurable as possible."
Maulucci also takes time to socialize with his vendors and stays high on their radar screen. This relationship tending paid off recently when a core Cisco switch failed. "Within 15 minutes, I had someone at the doorstep," he recalls. "The entire company [was] down, and I knew this switch was old and going to die. My Cisco guy not only found this ancient part for me within an hour, but drove it here."
Joe Dempich knows how that kind of vendor attention pays off as well. The IT director for $95-million Parts Now LLC, a computer parts distributor in Middleton, Wis., enjoys similar responsiveness from Microsoft. He continues to nurture a connection with the software giant that stretches back more than 10 years, to when he was a prominent Great Plains customer (before the company was acquired by Microsoft).
"If you want to be a reputable IT operation, you get your ducks in a row and do your homework," Dempich says. "When I call Microsoft, they know not to run through every little thing with us, that Parts Now has done its homework. That's where the relationship starts."
All of our midmarket leaders take pride in their relationships with their own IT staffers and particularly in their ability to minimize employee turnover. Cognizant of the skills shortage, they take opportunities to develop talent to prevent strong staff from being stolen away. And they are determined to build communication bridges between the business and the technical side.
At North Shore, Cook has held numerous one-on-one, sessions with his 14-member IT staff, complete with a homework assignment for discussion. "I ask them to read an article in a tech magazine and come to talk to me about why it's relevant to our industry or to North Shore. We also talk about marriage, careers, training -- whatever's on their minds," Cook says. "I want to get them involved with their company, to see how they contribute to our success."
Maryfran Johnson, is the founding editor in chief of CIO Decisions. To comment on this story, email editor@ciodecisions.com.
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