How to stop coordinating five suppliers on your own

Coordinating suppliers rarely appears as a line in the budget, but it costs real time and energy.

• You become the go-between. When something goes wrong, you're the one working out who is responsible.

• Issues fall through the gaps. Each supplier looks after their own area, and the problems sitting between them belong to no one.

• Decisions are made in isolation. A change in one system can affect another, and no one is checking.

• Knowledge is scattered. Important details live in different inboxes, and the people who know them come and go.

• Costs are hard to see. Separate invoices make it difficult to know what you're really spending or getting.

If you’re not technical, this is especially tough. You end up making decisions without the information you need, and carrying the risk if they don’t work out.

You don’t have to replace every supplier. Often the better answer is having one trusted person or team who takes responsibility for the whole picture.

That looks like:

1. 1.
   One point of contact. You know exactly who to call, whatever the issue.
2. 2.
   A clear map of your systems. What you have, how it fits together and who looks after each part.
3. 3.
   Someone who speaks to suppliers on your behalf. They translate the technical detail, hold suppliers to account and make sure nothing is missed.
4. 4.
   A shared plan. Upgrades, changes and new ideas are planned together, not one supplier at a time.
5. 5.
   Advice you can trust. Recommendations are based on what’s right for your organisation, not on what a single vendor wants to sell.

The Commonwealth Club didn’t need a full time internal development team, but they did need ongoing technical leadership, strategic advice and proactive support to keep their digital environment running well.

Rather than acting as a traditional support provider, Aryal became an extension of their organisation. We provide continuous technical advice, manage the platform and make proactive improvements across their digital environment.

Instead of reacting to problems, the organisation now has an experienced technology partner helping them strengthen their digital capability over time.

A simple first step is to write down every technology supplier you work with, what each one does and who deals with them. Seeing it on one page often shows the gaps straight away.

If you’d like help making sense of it, we’re happy to talk it through.