Selecting Technology Expense Management (TEM), Mobility Management Services (MMS), and Cloud Management vendors involves more than just evaluating low bids. It requires a focused effort to identify partners who proactively provide value and can quickly recover from setbacks. Prioritize vendors who demonstrate genuine ownership through business insight and reliable execution. Here’s your guide for identifying and securing top performers in these specialized areas.
Seek Deep Business Alignment
Elite TEM, MMS, and cloud vendors immerse themselves in your operations for a proactive impact. They analyze your telecom expenses, mobility usage, cloud consumption patterns, and contracts to detect anomalies, such as billing errors or underutilized licenses, and resolve them independently.
To establish alignment, demand constant and clear communication, including quick responses, honest progress updates, and direct calls for clarification when needed. Insist on accountability; top vendors under-commit and over-deliver on Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Identification Tip: In Requests for Proposals (RFPs), ask for case studies demonstrating how they have optimized similar clients’ TEM audits, MMS device fleets, or achieved cloud cost savings without prompting.
Spot and Avoid Red Flags Early
Certain behaviors can negatively impact satisfaction; identify and eliminate them during due diligence. Common red flags include:
- Missed deliverables in Statements of Work (SOWs), broken commitments, or the need for constant oversight indicate poor ownership.
- Frequent team turnover can erase institutional knowledge of your environment, and offshore support with mismatched time zones can delay resolutions.
Track Performance Rigorously
Use vendor-specific metrics to confirm consistent value in TEM, MMS, and cloud contexts.
- Measure the speed of anomaly detection, the savings realized from optimizations, and adherence to SLAs.
- Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) should present trends rather than excuses, treating any slips as outliers.
Pro Tip: Score vendors on a 1-5 scale across these metrics before finalizing contracts and monitor their performance monthly.
Mandate Swift, Transparent Recovery
Even reliable vendors can experience setbacks. Winners will turn issues into trust-builders.
- Require immediate ownership, assigned owners, and time-bound get-well plans before escalation.
- Post-fix, demand root-cause analysis and preventive updates, like enhanced cloud monitoring alerts.
Contract Essentials: Include recovery protocols in agreements, with penalties for unresolved repeat issues.
By targeting TEM, MMS, and cloud vendors who demonstrate partnership through their actions, not just their tools, you will cut costs, reduce risks, and scale efficiently. Start with reference calls focused on these critical behaviors.
Interested in learning how your peers tackle this topic? Become a Professional Member today (it’s FREE to join!)
Interested in learning more about this topic? Silver Membership provides hundreds of essential guides, templates, eBooks, and other resources!
Interested in learning more about this topic? Discover courses and certifications with a Gold Membership to help you master technology management best practices.
