Back to Basics

In this ‘Back to Basics’ article, we’ll answer the question ‘What is a strategic partnership?’ by being clear about what distinguishes strategic partnerships from other types of supplier relationships. We’ll look at some common features of strategic partnerships, the potential…

Those who rise to a position where they are responsible for negotiations must ensure they, and those in their procurement teams, are skilled in the art of successful negotiation; practised in its use – especially under pressure – and confident…

The pressure on procurement teams can be immense when considering project partners, and with vendor-side sales people pulling in one direction and often client-side policy pulling in another, deciding on how to pay for your project can be a challenge.…

The single most important key critical element of successful delivery of externally commissioned services is being clear on ‘what good looks like’ to both you and your external service provider. However, in the many hundreds of external service delivery partnerships we…

There are many factors that you must consider when entering into a service commissioning partnership. You are no doubt familiar with the “usual suspects” – price and capability. It isn’t unreasonable for them to be key considerations – after all,…

At Best Practice Group, we regularly get involved in established commissioning partnerships that are in dire need of revitalisation. More often than not, a client will seek out our services with the aim of dismantling their commissioning contract with minimum…

According to a Gartner survey, 53% of organisations that have outsourced reported challenges relating to a lack of project/programme management skills. Or to put it another way, they had no experienced outsourcing governance. When considering outsourcing, the creation of a Governance Team is…

You’ve decided that you want to outsource, but you haven’t decided which of the outsourcing methods is the best. You have internal processes that are functioning well, and outsourcing seems the next logical step in terms of reducing overheads and…