Workshop for Internal Service Providers: Managing Supply v. Demand
Field-tested theories and practical methods for transforming an internal service provider from a "vendor of force," to a "vendor of preference".
The Problem
Within larger organizations there are often functions whose purpose is to provide products and services to their fellow organizations; such functions are known as internal service providers. Internal service providers that perform project-oriented work for client organizations (e.g., Information Technology (IT), Facilities Management, etc.) will be either "demand-driven" or "supply-constrained".
Demand-driven providers are free to perform whatever projects their client organizations may request, as long as those clients have the budget to pay for them.
While supply-constrained providers may also re-charge their clients, they are also constrained by a budget cap. For example, it is not unusual for corporate management to dictate that a company's total IT expenditures not exceed a certain amount, perhaps some percent of sales. If the sum of the project requests made of IT exceeds this cap, which it always does, and even though the client organizations requesting them have the budget accept the re-charges, IT will have to turn work away so as not to exceed the IT expenditure cap.
Further, when budgets are tight or shrinking supply-constrained IT organizations face a particular problem because the act of reducing client organizations' budgets tends to stimulate their demand for IT services as they turn to technology to get more done for less. As a result, IT's supply vs. demand gap is exasperated because their ability to supply is further constrained by the very same budget conditions that are simultaneously stimulating an increase in their demand.
It is a behavioral fact of business life that every organization will do whatever it has to do to meet its targets. Unfortunately for supply-constrained internal service providers, because demand usually exceeds supply, meeting their targets usually means turning away requests from their client organizations. Consequently, supply-constrained internal service providers are often viewed as: difficult to work with, disconnected from the business, elitist, a necessary evil, and in other pejorative ways. In other words, they are viewed as "a vendor of force," rather than a "vendor of preference."
Meanwhile, those same client organizations, having their own targets to meet, will find a way to get done that which they feel needs to get done. So, just as anyone does when a vendor becomes too hard to work with, those client organizations quit working with their internal service provider and turn elsewhere. Sometimes they'll try the "do-it-yourself" route, but more often they turn to an external vendor. Sometimes they do so overtly; more often they do so covertly. In either case, the internal service provider becomes even more disconnected from the business and loses relevance--eventually, irrelevant organizations find themselves eliminated and/or outsourced.
Our Solution Approach
Our approach is to help internal service providers operate as if they were a stand-alone business--to manage their supply and demand problem in a way that builds alignment with their company's strategy and partnership with their organizational clients.
The source of an internal service provider's organizational power flows from their ability to:
• Deliver basic services with high reliability.
• Align their priorities with the priorities of the business.
• Get done what they say they will get done.
Our Managing Supply v. Demand Workshop will teach you to align the provider's resources with their company's priorities in ways that are:
• Congruent with the operational needs and strategic plans of the business.
• Doable (i.e., commitments they can honor).
• Resilient (i.e., highly reliable while also adaptive to change).
• Repeatable and predictable (without mystery).
• Generally regarded as "fair" by all concerned.
Workshop Fees and Availability
To determine if we are a good fit for your organization, we recommend going through a mutual pre-qualification process; this will help us both pre-qualify each other, saving everyone time and money. The process is straightforward, consisting of telephone, email, and/or in-person discussions so we may clarify your particular needs, time frame, and budget parameters. We can then follow-up with targeted information, submit a custom proposal specific to your situation. Just contact us and we'll get the ball rolling!
