Computerware Blog

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of businesses to rethink their spending strategies, and one side-effect from making cuts to your operational budget is having to deal with your vendor representatives more frequently. Today, we’ll talk about how a vendor management service can not only help you manage your supply chain, but also mitigate the headaches caused by aggressive vendor reps.  

The small business owner has to do a lot. In fact, the smaller the business, the more he/she has to do. One thing that many small business owners do is make technology decisions. By acting like the organization's CIO or CTO (short for Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer, respectively), the small business owner needs to understand what his/her organization’s technology needs are. Or, he/she needs to outsource that role. 

The small business owner wears a lot of different hats. The smaller the business, the more hats he/she has to wear. One hat many small business owners wear is that of CIO or CTO. Short for Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer, respectively, these positions typically make technology decisions for the company they work for. 

You can hear what they are saying, but it just doesn't make any sense. You zone out. Cookies. Rambo. The Yankees. "Does that sound good", says your IT technician as you snap back into the conversation. "Sure!", you say reluctantly. Your tech is a master in the ancient art of Technologese.

We’re not overestimating the importance of vendors by stating that they are literally what make your business work. The company that provides your Internet service, or the software you use to track your employees’ workflow, enables you to get work done. Operations would be impeded without the solutions these vendors offer. Of course, not all vendors provide adequate services. We’ll help you weed out the good from the bad.

Vendors can be impossible to deal with, and this problem escalates when you have quite a lot of them. Every service or product your business takes advantage of comes from a vendor, and if you have to work directly with them every time something goes awry, you’re looking at a lot of wasted time and effort. Thankfully, there’s an easier way to work with your vendors, and ironically, it involves not working with them at all--but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s a process you need to go through before you can most efficiently take advantage of vendor management services.

Procuring equipment is a necessary part of managing any business, but this is often easier said than done. Your organization works with multiple vendors, which could be both confusing and time-consuming. How does your business manage its vendors, and is there a way to make this easier and more efficient?

The appeal of a do-it-yourself project is that you’re the one doing the work. With the Do It Yourself (DIY) approach, whatever it is you're working on, you know for sure that it’s getting the attention it deserves. This is why it can be rather unnerving to have someone who you don’t fully know or trust work on your stuff. This is especially the case when it comes to your company’s technology.

A company’s IT infrastructure includes many moving pieces. Managing it all can be a complex venture that alludes the common employee. Yet, resolving IT issues often falls on the lap of your employees, since they’re the ones facing the problems. In situations like this, it would be best if your staff could simply resolve these issues with just one simple phone call.

Managing your vendors can be big trouble for a small business. While your organization’s productivity depends on their products and services, dealing with vendors is often an exhausting task that eats up a significant amount of time. By outsourcing this responsibility to a vendor management service, you can handle vendors much more efficiently.

Everyone in your organization has a specific set of mission-critical software titles that they need to fulfill their day-to-day responsibilities, and the business owner is no exception. As an end-user yourself, how often do you worry about your software’s licenses? You wouldn’t believe how many organizations lose time and money due to expired licenses, or fall victim to hackers selling compromised copies of software to unsuspecting folks. What are the consequences of either of these circumstances?

Business owners have a schedule they use to keep track of things, like paying bills. If the bills aren’t paid, services stop being available, and you can kiss your credit score goodbye. One expense which some business owners forget to schedule is the renewal of vital software licensing. If these agreements aren’t renewed, they could have potentially disastrous consequences.

As a business owner, you want nothing but the best technology for your company. This new technology should be able to help your business grow and maximize your return-on-investment. It’s important to note that not all tech vendors will be able to provide you with the same quality solutions. You can get the most out of your technology by not worrying so much about your sources. That’s where our vendor management service can help your business.

Insurance companies will write a policy for anything that makes them profit. For example, British Insurance has collected over $3 million from Californians who have bought alien abduction insurance. You likely have insurance protecting your company's assets from every kind of threat, even the extraterrestrial kind, but do you have an insurance policy for your company's data?

"With a great management position, comes great responsibility." --Spiderman's Manager. If management were easy, then nobody would be a manager because everybody would know what to do. Management is challenging, primarily because of all the stress and responsibility involved. Managing your technology doesn't have to be stressful; we can do it for you with our vendor management service.

How's your to-do list looking these days? If you are running a business, then it is likely maxed out with little room for anything extra, much less something mundane like calling vendors to fix a broken piece of technology. For time consuming tasks like this, you can simply pass the job on to us and then get the satisfaction of crossing it off!

Professional networking is an essential part of doing business. It would be nice to have a business guru on staff that is an expert in everything, but this is impossible because people's brains are finite and can only store so much data. We need to network. We need each other. You need us to manage your technology, and sometimes we need the help from other IT professionals.