Die Feststellung von Abhängigkeiten zu externen IT-Vendoren – good practice und Mehrwerte

Companies are increasingly outsourcing IT services to external partners. In particular, the increased use of cloud-based online services and consulting services are a key driver here. However, the decreasing depth of in-house services is also accompanied by an increasing potential dependency on external IT vendors. The identification of dependencies is therefore a fundamental factor in the evaluation of supply and service provider relationships, which must be backed up with appropriate measures that change depending on the identification.

Dependency relationships with external suppliers can encompass various dimensions. In principle, the consideration of six dependency dimensions has proven successful in projects:

Dependency relationships with external suppliers are identified both during the evaluation process before an order is placed and on an ongoing basis during operation. In most companies, this is the responsibility of an IT vendor management unit. The advantage of this is that specific responsibility is defined and organizationally assigned. The determination and updating are carried out with IT operations in order to highlight the consequences of the collaboration with the supplier and to initiate any countermeasures.

One of the most obvious added values is the ability to benefit from the expertise and resources of suppliers. External suppliers may have specialized knowledge and technologies that are not available internally. This can enable a company to gain competitive advantage, build or develop it, and offer innovative solutions. In addition, close supplier relationships can lead to greater efficiency and cost savings. This allows companies to focus their resources on their own core competencies while external suppliers handle tasks that do not fall within the company's actual core business.

Author: Christian Grabner