How can you ensure that your IT supplier is offering you their best deal and best prices/discounts? How do you now if they are giving you value for money? How do find out if they are already over-charging you for the products and services you have installed? According to Mark Bartrick, Managing Director of Silver Bullet Associates, Price Benchmarking is the simple answer. Many canny buyers get independent help to price benchmark Supplier’s proposals prior to signing, and they also insert clauses in their supplier’s contracts to say that they can undertake further price benchmarking exercises if they feel they are not getting value for money. They key for any buyer is to obtain independent advice. Make sure the price benchmarking company has no formal or informal ties to any IT Suppliers or you may find that their advice is tainted, skewed and unbiased. Some Industry Analysts receive significant revenues from Suppliers and have to tread a fine line between what they can and can’t say to their clients. You should ask any negotiation advisor or price benchmarker whether they are truly independent. If they are not, don’t hire them. Don’t hire a fox to look after your chickens!

When new money is short in supply, and your Finance Director is pressing for measurable IT cost savings, what can you do to validate your existing spend or uncover hidden over-spend? That’s pretty much the question Silver Bullet Associates was asked today by an IT Director. It’s a good question so let me summarise what I said to him; price benchmarking is a great way to quickly ascertain if you’re getting value for money from your IT suppliers.  It’ll also highlight areas where you are paying too much (compared to other users of the same products or services). But selecting a benchmarker can be tricky as not all ‘benchmarkers’ are independent. Many ‘benchmarkers’ have some form of relationship with the very suppliers you want assessed. Just look at the main IT Research and IT Consulting companies; they advise both users and suppliers, which can cause conflicts of interest when it comes to offering best advice. So select your benchmarker carefully and look for true independence.