There was a time, not long ago, when the only procurement professionals who bought software had responsibility for IT sourcing.
Today, with the explosion of SaaS, and the use to SaaS technology to deliver tradition labor based services, buyers across many categories must now negotiate software licenses, either directly or with the help of their peers in IT. At the same time, IT sourcing professionals are faced with the increasing supplier requests to move from on-premise to cloud based solutions.
My guest on this episode of Art of Procurement is Randy Roth, the President of Seprio. Randy helps me unpack the world of software licensing, while providing tips to help procurement build stronger relationships with IT, navigate the move to the cloud, and negotiate with the big boys.
“When somebody with a professional attitude and a professional ability to get work done, fifty percent of the organization will say, thank you so much, I appreciate it, here you go, how do we work with you. There’s another thirty percent that say, you know what, I don’t want to work with you but, you know what, I’ll give you a chance. I’ll give you one chance. And the last ten to twenty percent, they’re never going to come into this sort of thing willingly, and that’s why you need executive support to make these things work”
In this episode, you will learn:
- The biggest challenges of the CIO in 2017
- What can procurement professionals do to help CIO’s solve their greatest challenges?
- What are the different types of software licenses and when are they typically used: term, perpetual and SaaS
- What are you getting when you pay for software maintenance?
- What to do if an incumbent provider asks you to move from an on-premise model to the cloud.
- Tips for negotiating with larger software companies
- How can procurement build a stronger relationship with their colleagues in IT?
Links and Resources:
- Subscribe to the Art of Procurement podcast.
- Randy Roth on LinkedIn
- Seprio