
STRANGERS INSIDE (2). WHEN IT’S A GOOD THING TO INVITE THEM INTO YOUR CYBER SECURITY STRATEGY
In the last installment of this 2-part blog, we used the story from the movie Casino Royale to color up the value of inviting strangers into your cyber security strategy...and how strategic sourcing of vendor partners is relevant in that effort.

STRANGERS INSIDE. WHEN IT’S A GOOD THING TO INVITE THEM INTO YOUR CYBER SECURITY STRATEGY
Improve your cyber security strategy by making the strategic sourcing process and cyber security vendor partners part of the planning discussions...early and often.

“I’M NOT SIGNING THIS.” FOUR LESSONS LEARNED FROM STOPPING A VENDOR AGREEMENT AT THE 11TH HOUR
It hit the CEO’s inbox as committed. The IT team had worked for nearly a year evaluating vendors and negotiating a critical enterprise infrastructure technology deal with a new vendor. Everyone was ready to get the deal done and get to work.

RFP PROJECTS ARE HARD. BUT IF YOUR VENDOR PARTNERSHIP IS MISSION CRITICAL, THEY ARE WELL WORTH THE EFFORT
A story about a health insurance company’s RFP journey to the right vendor partner and 23% pricing relief on a ten-digit investment.

VENDOR RENEWALS… HOW MAKING A QUICK DECISION CAN COST YOU
3 Access Points for Creating Financial Value From Vendor Agreement Renewals.

VENDOR RENEWAL AGREEMENTS… THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS AS THEY SEEM
Vendor renewals often get a “check the box” treatment. Here’s a true story about a vendor renewal that seemed fairly routine…until it wasn’t.

HOW TO NEGOTIATE A VENDOR AGREEMENT MID-TERM: A 3-POINT CHECKLIST
Insights to the often missed opportunity to win with renewals, including a 3-Point checklist for better understanding your mid-term renewals.

TOUGH TIMES OR NOT… DON’T MISS THE VALUE OF NEGOTIATING RENEWALS
Insights to the often missed opportunity to win with renewals, including a 5-Point technical checklist for better understanding your renewals.

A SIMPLE YET POWERFUL TOOL FOR ACHIEVING SUCCESS IN NEGOTIATING ON BEHALF OF OTHERS
How to achieve results in strategic sourcing projects by buildind the stool of success. John, a friend and strategic sourcing colleague, was struggling with how to finish vendor negotiation with a positive outcome. He was struggling to guide the business stakeholder…

PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM YOUR CYBERSECURITY VENDOR’S CYBER RISK
A recent Bitdefender article said one in ten firms will lose $10MM from cyberattack and, as a result, greater investment in cybersecurity is being made by companies. That’s great! BUT cybersecurity firms, by the nature of the service they provide, may represent a greater security risk than ‘normal’ vendors. Here’s a story to illustrate what I mean.

PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM YOUR SAAS VENDOR’S CYBER RISK
A recent CPO article by Mark Lotti quipped, "…a vendor's cyber risk becomes the client's cyber risk". The sheer number of breaches and data loss make this statement ring true, now more than ever. The question is, how do you manage your vendors’ risks to keep your data secure?

3 VENDOR MANAGEMENT TRENDS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN THE DIGITAL AGE
The fast-technological evolution means that nearly every aspect of your business is experiencing change in some way, and vendor management is no different. When it comes to procurement and vendor management in the digital age, look out—and be ready—for these emerging technologies and trends.

THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF ‘THE NEGOTIATORS ZEN’
A look inside the four results (not titled ‘best price’) you want in negotiating every deal you ever do.

NEGOTIATION STYLES FOR STRATEGIC SOURCING OF VENDORS, THE STYLE SLIDER, AND WHY YOU WANT TO “SLIDE RIGHT”.
Adversarial or collaborative? Here’s a story about a recent negotiation where the vendor representative took a very adversarial approach. Let’s see how it worked out for them…

ADVERSARIAL OR COLLABORATIVE? WHICH STYLE PREVAILS IN A VENDOR NEGOTIATION?
Adversarial or collaborative? Here’s a story about a recent negotiation where the vendor representative took a very adversarial approach. Let’s see how it worked out for them…

NEGOTIATE YOUR NEXT DEAL LIKE A SUPERHERO (PART THREE)
This is the third and final blog in our POWW series where we discuss the WW for Win-Win.

NEGOTIATE YOUR NEXT DEAL LIKE A SUPERHERO (PART TWO)
Welcome to the Seprio Blog, a place where you will (hopefully) find pearls useful in protecting your business priorities, where we tell stories and talk about best practices in vendor management, negotiating, and contracting better. Today’s post focuses on the O in POWW: Objectivity.

NEGOTIATE YOUR NEXT DEAL LIKE A SUPERHERO (PART ONE)
Welcome to the Seprio Blog, a place where you will (hopefully) find pearls useful in protecting your business priorities, where we tell stories and talk about best practices in vendor management, negotiating, and contracting better. I’m your host and Seprio Master Certified Negotiator, Patrick Bohnenkamp. Today’s post is the first in a three-part series on the tenets of best practice negotiating.

THE TRUTH ABOUT PROTECTION OF YOUR DATA IN THE CLOUD
Plus a 3-Part Data Protection Negotiation Strategy

VENDORS AND YOUR DATA… ARE YOU PROTECTED?
5 Practical Tips For Protecting Your Business Priorities With The Right Agreement