Throughout this Intelligent Supplier series, we’ve explored eight key behaviours that define an Intelligent Supplier, highlighting how each trait contributes to a successful win-win partnership. The evidence is clear that the future of supplier–client relationships extends far beyond traditional transactional…

Joint working is often a product of financial necessity. However, it should also be viewed through a benefits lens – organisations coming together to generate and invest in much more innovative practices. Strategic alliances can be formed between multiple clients…

The acquisition of Civica by Blackstone, a leading private equity firm, will signal a pivotal change in the public sector software solutions landscape. Therefore, this article looks to examine the potential risks and benefits for Civica’s clients that could result…

Contract management and supplier relationship management are two distinct disciplines that play a crucial role in the success of key supplier relationships and the achievement of expected outcomes from critical outsourced contracts. Although these activities have often been overlooked and…

Shared services can offer significant benefits – including improved savings, continuity and quality of service, systems and scalability – but only if you can overcome the challenges that will naturally appear when you ask service user parties with different goals,…

While some people revel in breaking through established boundaries, the vast majority would prefer the stability and relative comfort of the status quo. Change may befall an organisation in a myriad of ways, but all are likely to bring with…

When public sector procurement is mentioned, it is often to discuss the complexities of compliance with strict processes and procedures and the challenges which may arise holistically when these are not followed as fastidiously as they might have been. Thoughts…

The question of ‘institutional racism’ is particularly poignant at this time, and while the claims UVW has made against St George’s University of London on behalf of their members will be seen by some to be extreme, there are likely…

In these extraordinary times, many of our organisations are struggling: Struggling with losing personnel as increasing numbers of staff are on sick leave or self-isolating as someone they are close to is ill with what’s suspected to be COVID-19. Struggling…

We are living through unprecedented times. Britain is in ‘lockdown’; all but ‘those who cannot work from home’ are being asked to stay at home and the government is paying companies to encourage staff and non-key workers onto furlough leave…

Cases of coronavirus, or COVID-19, are surging past 115,000 across the globe with over 4,000 whose lives have been claimed. Fortunately, c.65,000 people have recovered. The World Health Organization (WHO) is designating the chances of the coronavirus becoming a global…

How much do you know about what’s really going on with your strategic supplier relationship? Do you trust your supplier implicitly when they report on progress against your business outcomes, send through requests for payments and inform you of costs?…

When you think of accidents and the space programme, most people of a certain age will remember the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster of ’86, when the craft disintegrated just 73 seconds into the launch, due to an O-ring failure. The…

The Salvation Army is an amazing organisation that supports the most vulnerable in our communities. It is now an entity that turns over some £300m, has over 8,000 suppliers, each of which gets a share of the £160m it is…

Multibillion-dollar software company Oracle seems to have recently been under the media spotlight for both good and not-so-good reasons. On the one hand, it has just reported better than expected revenues and its highest growth rate since 2011. On the…

We have noticed (and continue to encourage) a steady increase in the use of social enterprise companies in the day-to-day service delivery activities of the modern-day organisation/business. Where profits and positioning were once the unchallenged, primary goals, it seems that…

Since Interserve’s collapse, many people have likened what happened to this multibillion-pound organisation to the set of events that led up to the demise of Carillion, which itself collapsed just 13 months earlier. We have already written a number of…

Since Interserve fell into its pre-pack administration on 15th March, there have been many across the spectrum of suppliers and clients who have wondered what this actually meant for their relationships, projects and outstanding invoices. After all, the aim of…

The last few weeks have been really challenging for outsourcing firm Interserve. A quick look through recent BBC headlines on the business says it all – ‘Crunch week for Interserve’, ‘UK outsourcing giant faces crunch vote’, ‘Interserve on the brink’,…

We know from our own experience, and via the media of course, that many strategic supplier relationships have their ups and downs. Traditional good practice tells us that when a relationship is heading in a downward trajectory, we should consider…

Successful strategic (complex) client / supplier relationships tend to have one thing in common – a collaborative mindset. This is one where parties not only work extensively together to achieve big, bold goals, but also where they overcome seriously challenging…

The SAP IT project, eLWIS (electronic merchandise management and information system) has been dropped by client, Lidl, after 7-years of analysis, development and trial rollouts. What happened, where does the blame lie and what now for the global retail brand…

When the NAO produces an analysis of key aspects of major project relationships, it is always worth taking note. The NAO report titled ‘Survival Guide to Challenging Costs in Major Projects’ is no exception. The UK government is working on…