Previous Networking Session Topics

This is a list of topics that CAUCUS members brought to the table for discussion at previous facilitated networking sessions.

Software Licensing/Maintenance

• How to hit a moving target: Dealing with changing license arrangements and use of right documents
• Getting vendor to help us stay compliant
• ASP Models
• Software License Compliance
• Best Practices for Software
• ASP/SaaS Issues
• Software Maintenance Contracts
• Strategies for negotiating software maintenance fees below list
• Open source – how to deal with open source in off-the-shelf software

Vendor Management

• Techniques to work your way out of a bad account rep
• Asset Management Tools
• Best practices in disaster recovery
• Leveraging vendors
• Disappearing vendors (at renewal time)
• New Account Reps – Bait & Switch?
• Vendor Mergers and Consequences
• Walking away from a failing vendor
• VMO vs sourcing – what’s the difference
• VMO structures
• Establishing/Enforcing single point of contact with vendor
• Managing a vendor who falls behind on delivery
• Contract Management Software
• Best practices for ensuring vendor performance

Negotiations and Contracting

• How to set up contracts to take advantage of virtual environments
• Negotiating vendor 10-day delivery to multiple countries overseas
• Handling contract renewals
• Service level agreements with cell phone providers
• Timing of negotiations
• Price increase by given date ploy
• Blank Page Blues – working with internal legal departments
• Negotiating price when no benchmark is available
• Creating/Maintaining negotiating power
• Expanding overseas – negotiating with local telecoms
• Remedies for key performance indicators
• Determining optimal insurance requirements for contracts
• Termination notices while maintaining relationships and service levels
• Negotiating Ts & Cs and pricing with niche vendors
• Protecting the warranty period
• Best negotiation tips – Either to do … or never to do
• Website-referenced documents in your vendor’s contract

Procurement

• Bundling as a vendor ploy
• How to conduct a post-RFP briefing
• Including contracts in RFPs
• Vendor agitation in competitive bidding process
• Let Operations know negotiation is coming
• How to frame RFP’s to get most/least marketing materials
• Pros and cons of reverse auctions
• Measuring cost savings
• Setting clear expectations with internal clients
• Assembling and RFP for global field support
• Confidential information disclosed in an RFP (i.e. current pricing)
• Comparing apples to apples when seeking pricing from multiple IT consulting firms

Vendor Specific

• HP Enterprise Agreements
• How to deal with CDW
• What leverage do buyers have with ILECS (AT&T, Verizon)
• Converting to PeopleSoft
• How to master the state of Zen (Zenworks from Novell)
• Key strategies for negotiating volume licensing agreements with Oracle
• Hard times with HP – Everything is a dispute
• SAP maintenance contracts

 Other

• Outsourcing email security
• Building trust within teams
• Getting clients to use internal IT before going to vendor
• Addressing fuel surcharge increases
• Certification programs
• “Right now” technologies
• Server room renovations
• How to learn/enhance my IT procurement skills
• P-card best practices
• Contingent workforce personnel issues