Our client is an International bank with operations in Europe, United States and Australia. It is one of the world's top 50 financial services companies.
A core element of the Bank's strategy is to outsource the provision of all services that are not part of their core business of retail banking. It was realised that if the strategy was to be successfully implemented the managers who would move from line manager to supplier management roles would require support, guidance and skills/knowledge development.
We were asked to work with the strategic sourcing group, specialists in supply side management, to develop a programme for line managers, which combined and integrated the bank's policies and procedures with the skills development that we would provide. Within this it was key that there was a common understanding of the strategic sourcing role, and the line manager role in the supplier relationship.
What were the issues and challenges that the programme needed to address?
How to ensure that the suppliers delivered against the service level agreement and the bank derived the expected value from the service
Enable the managers to develop positive working relationships with the suppliers, so that the relationship could move from supplier to partner
Equip managers to be able to handle issues with the supplier without reverting to waving the service agreement at them shouting "breach of contract"
Develop the skills of the managers in planning and running supplier review meetings
Create the awareness of the differences between managing in-house staff and an external organisation
Develop their negotiating skills that are inevitably required for the day to day contract management as well as for more formal contract negotiation
Workshop Approach and Topics
The 2 main aims of the workshop are;
To provide a range of practical mechanisms and tools/checklists for managing the process
To develop their behavioural skills in managing supplier performance and relationships
The 2 day workshop is based on the "Supplier Life Cycle", using a 6 point model: outsource decision, identifying potential suppliers, meeting potential suppliers, selection, managing the performance and relationship and contract renewal. Practically based, participants work on live contracts relevant to the stage of the lifecycle they are involved in. Workshop topics include;
Key criteria for outsource decision
Identifying potential suppliers
Supplier selection matrix
The Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Overview of the RFI and ITT processes
Measuring and validating performance
Risk analysis
Structuring initial supplier meetings
Managing the contract and supplier reviews
Creating positive supplier relationships
Converting suppliers into partners
Handling conflicts and disagreements
Negotiating to create win-wins
Contract renewal
Over a twelve month period we have worked with over 60 managers in the bank who have responsibility for managing suppliers providing IT, telecoms, payroll, pensions, facilities management and call centre services.
