Don't let technology suppliers off the hook

By Kevin R. Fitzgerald -- Purchasing, 4/20/2000

The article that begins on page 57 provides readers with a glimpse of how their peers perceive technological tools for purchasing and supply management. Based on the results of this survey, it's apparent that technology suppliers could be-and should be-doing a lot more to back up the products they sell to purchasing organizations.

Consider these results from our survey: When asked about after-sale support from technology suppliers, purchasing pros were split right down the middle, with half rating service as "good" to "excellent," and half rating it as "fair" to "poor." Compare and contrast these poor ratings with those of a survey we conducted last year about buying from distributors. More than 90% of surveyed buyers rated distributor performance as "good" or "excellent."

When buying high-tech products, service and support are critical. Why, then, do so many technology suppliers not perform well in this important area? Part of the answer is that purchasers simply don't know enough about technology products and don't apply enough pressure up front to ensure that service will be up to snuff.

There are a number of steps that buyers can take to minimize support problems when buying technology tools for purchasing as well as other high-tech products:

• Become involved in developing specifications as much as possible. Buyers who are well versed in this area are much better negotiators than those who come into the picture at the supplier-selection stage.

• Check out new technology suppliers in the area of service and support. What is the experience of other customers? Ask suppliers pointed questions about how they would react to specific service challenges after the sale. Include internal IT people in the discussions and get their take on how well they perceive support to be from various suppliers.

• Include service and support issues in supplier negotiations and in contracts. When buying software, it's a good practice to include upgrade requirements-and pricing-in the contract whenever it makes sense.

• Ensure that mergers and/or acquisitions will not adversely affect delivery and support.

• Work with suppliers and internal users of software to define delivery dates and align payments to suppliers around delivery dates.

• Consider calling potential suppliers' support "hot lines" to see what kind of response is received.

Service and support should always be considered basic criteria of the high-tech buy. And it's up to purchasing pros to make sure that suppliers understand this.