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Thursday 9th February 2012

An introduction to IT Commercial Awareness  

IT supplier management advice session with Turnstone Services

Date: Wednesday 15th September 2010
Time: 5.30pm – 7pm
Address: womenintechnology offices, 114 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7JH
Cost: FREE

In the male-dominated world of IT, getting the best deal can seem impossible, particularly when the IT sales team are professionally trained negotiators. This can put you at a commercial disadvantage. This short session will enhance your commercial skills in buying IT goods and services, increase your confidence with vendors and ability to reduce cost. It will help you to manage the commercial risk inherent in any IT contract, through practical real world examples.

Key Benefits
  1. Risk Mitigation: Understand some of the key contractual clauses and their commercial implications. Reduce your exposure and risk of being caught out when disputes arise
  2. Service Improvement and Cost Control: Ensure that service contracts deliver what they are meant to, learn the different cost mechanisms and how to use them to your favour
  3. Reusable Materials: take away from the course a reference pack which you can use when preparing for, during, and after your own vendor negotiations
 
Agenda
  1. IT Disasters: how not to buy IT
  2. Breaking down the Procurement Process (including takeaway checklist)
  3. A brief note on contracts and ways of reducing your risk
  4. Buying specific IT spend categories
  • IT Services – ensuring your implementations deliver on time, on budget, on quality 
  • Software – the negotiation checklist
  • Hardware agreements – looking beyond the kit
  • Telco’s - negotiating fixed line and mobile telephony contracts
 
The session will be presented by Alex Sandercock, Director at Turnstone Services.

This free event is specifically aimed at the IT management and IT Procurement management contacts within our network as well as technologists with vendor management responsibilities. Unfortunately if you don't fall into this category we can't offer you a place at the session but if you are interested in the topic, please get in touch as we may look into running an event with a similar theme for a larger audience at a later date.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to slilley@womenin.co.uk- including the following details:
 * First Name
 * Surname
 * Company
 * Job Title
 * Email Address
 * Contact Number