Client Problem

A key financial services client required expert assistance in auditing and improving what was seen as a cumbersome, unnecessarily expensive IT vendor management process.

Upon completion of a major acquisition, the financial services client found they had inherited a complex and largely inefficient IT vendor management infrastructure. To address this, the client undertook a wholesale restructure of the process used to negotiate, communicate with and manage IT contracts. SMS was engaged to audit the current process and develop a plan for the future. 
 

SMS Approach

SMS conducted a comprehensive audit of all existing IT contract procedures and vendor relationships to identify areas for improvement.

SMS drew upon 20 years’ auditing and assessment experience to:

• research all current IT vendor cost and operational frameworks
• review and challenge established contract negotiation processes and vendor relationships
• identify business expectations and highlight suitable areas for streamlining
   

Recommendation

SMS developed and presented a comprehensive change plan to address areas of concern, based primarily around taking the financial services company’s IT contracts process out to tender.

SMS developed a detailed roadmap for success and presented this roadmap to key stakeholders at the financial services company. Designed to address rising costs and to simplify the vendor management process, the plan focussed on taking the entire vendor process out to tender. Based on the findings of the audit, SMS was able to advise on specific parameters in the tender management process and establish key requirement for success. 
 

Outcome

Based upon the expert recommendations put forward by SMS, the financial services company went to tender and were able to immediately achieve considerable savings of more than $3 million.

With the help of SMS, the financial services company was able to appoint a streamlined list of preferred IT vendors that more closely met their requirements to consolidate and simplify their vendor management process. As a direct result, the financial services company experienced immediate savings in excess of $3 million in communication, negotiation and management costs. The streamlined nature of the new framework also meant the financial services company now enjoys a much simpler, more workable vendor management process for all future contract negotiations.