Building an optimum, productive relationship with your technology providers is challenging. Frequently, university executives devote insufficient attention to achieving the right balance of contractual and informal incentives. In particular:

• Achieving a win/win relationship is key to project success
• Aligning vendor incentives with yours is important to insure that the vendor wants to do what you need to have done
• Contract negotiations often turn into a zero sum game where your gain is the vendor’s loss, and vice versa
• It is often possible to structure relationships which serve both sides, based on an understanding of “what makes the other guy tick”

• Understanding of the criteria for success
• Appreciation of the software vendor’s and the consulting firm’s perspective
• Technology savvy
• Independence, and the ability to step back from the institutions’ day-to-day constraints