For most companies, vendors and third-party suppliers are an integral part of daily operations. A vendor’s role extends beyond basic transactions; it impacts industry trends, supply chains, and overall efficiency, making up an ecosystem that is essential to an organization’s success. Even so, company stakeholders may overlook the importance of building effective vendor relationships, and “vendor management” is a concept with varying definitions – if defined at all.
But strategic vendor relationships are critical in managed IT. The typical MSP manages an average of 10 vendors across the business tools and technology they resell – and that’s just internally. IT providers must also interface with the many network systems, programs, and controls of their customers – and more.
In this blog, we’ll explore the crowded arena of vendor management and outline practices MSPs can use to maximize the benefits of their own vendor relationships.
Defining vendor management
A healthy vendor-buyer relationship should extend beyond the merely transactional – and it should go both ways. With that in mind, we prefer the term vendor engagement. “Engagement” connotes active participation and sharing, and it requires at least two parties. In an ideal partnership, vendors and customers will work together to cultivate a relationship, align on shared goals, and leverage each party’s strengths to achieve their objectives.
Managed IT provider vendor engagement
For MSPs, the first line of vendors are those they rely on to deliver their own services – software, hardware, infrastructure, device management, and ticketing systems, among others. Providers with a vertical focus or specific area of expertise may have a competitive edge in one product over another, but even so, the vendor lineup is long.
The pool of vendors an MSP must manage is, however, a significant value proposition for its customers. By providing and managing the tools needed to support an organization’s technology and packaging it into one monthly invoice, the end customer’s time, resources, and budget are allocated where they’re needed most. A managed IT provider may offer other vendor benefits, as well; for example, by doing a great volume of business with its technology partners, an MSP may unlock pricing and perks the end customer wouldn’t be able to access on their own. Outsourcing IT to a managed IT provider means better organizational workflow and security, too, as the MSP is always evaluating new technology and upgrading tools as the IT landscape changes.
Related: How To Choose the Best MSP Tech Stack in 2024
End-customer vendor engagement
Technology is integral to an MSP’s operations, of course, but in the end, success in managed IT will always tie back to the customer – and the level of service the customer receives. The day-to-day customer support needs that commonly arise can be resolved by most technicians without difficulty. But what about solutions that lie outside a support team’s control? How far must a help desk technician go to resolve an issue that appears to lie with an external vendor or be otherwise out of scope? Should an attempt be made to troubleshoot, or does it become “not my problem”?
Our philosophy is: Control what you can control. Collabrance team members, for example, follow standardized information-gathering and troubleshooting processes to determine where an issue resides – and sometimes, it’s with another vendor. In those instances – practicing “control what you can control” – we’ll contact the other vendor, keeping the customer on the line, and will summarize for the vendor what the issue is and what resolution steps have already been taken. The Collabrance technician will remain on the call until they’re no longer able to add value.
Engaging external vendors this way adds an extra step, sure, but it can set a provider’s services apart in customer satisfaction. Bridging the gap between the customer and another vendor keeps the customer from having to answer the same questions multiple times and, ultimately, gets the issue resolved more quickly. If an MSP strives to offer best-in-class service, this vendor engagement approach will earn a wow every time.
The role of IT documentation in successful vendor engagement
Our method of engaging external vendors on behalf of end customers may sound simple enough in theory but requires the right resources to be able to carry out in practice. To provide this added layer of service effectively, the originating technician needs not only basic information about the vendor, like support numbers and customer contact information, but also more intricate details, like customer account information, administrative permissions, and the technical specifications between the customer and the other vendor.
So, how is all that comprehensive information collected and maintained?
At Collabrance, it starts at the customer’s onboarding. During onboarding, we have checkpoints in place to collect as much information as possible from the customer about their unique systems, tools, and environment. And the information-gathering doesn’t end with onboarding; we have established practices in place to ensure customer information is continuously updated and improved.
When done correctly, documentation becomes a valuable tool for MSPs. It serves as a dynamic resource, making support technicians more efficient and improving the overall customer service experience. Some key benefits of quality IT documentation include:
- Knowledge base: A comprehensive knowledge base empowers your team with information and expertise they may not have otherwise. Whether shortcuts learned through earlier interactions or insights that may be lesser known, a well-nurtured knowledge base helps a support team run more efficiently and resolve customer issues faster.
- Clear communication: Careful documentation conveys technical details, project requirements, and relevant information – cohesively. It ensures information is interpreted similarly by anyone who views it, facilitating consistent communication among support team members and with customers.
- Risk mitigation: Information collected regularly and used to keep documentation up to date serves as a safety net of procedural checks and balances, reducing potential vulnerabilities that may be exposed when engaging a third party.
- Accountability: Well-documented processes ensure accountability and consistency across a service team and can help new team members learn more quickly. By following the correct procedures from day one, a technician has less room for error in solving critical issues.
How Collabrance facilitates successful internal and external vendor engagement
In the same way a service provider offers value to its customers by managing IT vendor relationships on the customer’s behalf, Collabrance manages the tools needed to administer our services on the service provider’s behalf, acting as a single intermediary for all licensing, billing, and to handle any issues that may arise.
It’s true that the more channels information must travel through, the more chances there are for fumbled communication. To help minimize confusion and misinformation, the Collabrance service team follows some simple, consistent processes as part of our day-to-day conduct.
Collabrance IT knowledge base
Service providers that don’t have the processes or resources in place to curate and maintain useful documentation can lean on Collabrance to build a knowledge base for them. Our documentation is stored in IT Glue, and ticketing information is facilitated and stored in ConnectWise PSA. Collabrance service providers have access to all information pertaining to their business and customers within each of these tools.
Regular communication with service providers
Regular, two-way communication with our service provider customers is essential for building mutually beneficial relationships and achieving shared goals – and it enables us to better serve end-customers as well. Some best practices we’ve established to stay in consistent communication with service providers include:
- Alignment meetings: Regular alignment meetings between the service provider and Collabrance service team ensure all parties are on the same page and working toward shared objectives. Alignment meetings are used to discuss project progress, assess goals, and identify challenges. These meetings are a critical touchpoint for Collabrance to measure the value we are providing and make adjustment where needed.
- Sales and marketing training: The Collabrance sales and product engineering teams have customized, in-depth training plans for service providers to learn about our products and services, and strategies to effectively sell them. Customizable marketing materials are available to all Collabrance service providers.
- Tech stack training: Training for our tools, APIs, and integrations is available to every service provider at onboarding and on an ongoing basis as needed. While Collabrance does manage tools and vendors on our service providers’ behalf, a working knowledge of our products and services is beneficial for the service provider’s relationship with their end customer.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to improve your vendor relationships
Collabrance is dedicated to cultivating and maintaining strong vendor relationships as part of our core MSP support services, and we aim to deliver a superior support experience by engaging the end customers’ vendors when necessary, as well. While managing these many partnerships may seem like a dizzying effort, there are tools in place and best practices that, when used consistently, not only streamline the vendor management process, but convert it to a powerful service differentiator among the competition in managed IT. With effective vendor engagement, managed IT providers benefit from controlled costs, end customers benefit from enhanced support, and all parties benefit from improved satisfaction.
To learn more about how Collabrance upholds an average 97% CSAT score – and how your MSP can, too – contact our team.
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