Companies Lack the Processes and Tools to Efficiently Manage Multiple Suppliers
As the variety and number of providers increase, so does the complexity – and with it, the associated cost of managing it all. Managing more suppliers – including in-house IT groups, hardware vendors, global IT service providers, niche firms, offshore IT commodity service providers, software firms and a host of others – often results in a fragmented view of the IT enterprise and a tangled web of contracts.
Inconsistency across various IT environments, processes, support tools and reporting mechanisms can actually lead to higher costs and greater risk than outsourcing to a single organization. Forrester Research has found that the costs to manage multiple suppliers can increase contract costs from 4 to 30 percent.
Strong Governance, Robust Standards are Keys to Successful Multisupplier IT Management
Well-defined and well-implemented multivendor governance is critical to mitigating the complexities of multisupplier IT management, keeping costs to a minimum and preventing supplier coordination issues that degrade IT's ability to effectively align with and support business.
EDS has developed a multisupplier governance framework based on Enterprise Service Management (ESM) concepts, processes and tool sets to help companies define and implement standardized business processes and enabling technologies. ESM aligns the entire IT organization to the same objectives, business goals and operating rules. A standard operating environment ensures work is done in a consistent manner across multiple IT towers, business units and services suppliers.
EDS clients using the ESM framework have achieved substantial cost savings through improved visibility, tracking and control over suppliers. Clients have also reported these benefits:
* Improved management practices
* Lower costs through better pricing
* Greater first-time delivery accuracy
* Enhanced end-user service levels
* Better IT asset utilization and portfolio management
* Compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and other regulations
With a solid governance foundation, leading enterprises are driving more value from their IT investments. EDS helps companies achieve this goal by providing an enterprise-level framework that connects the delivery of IT to the business value chain.-EDS news
