CASE STUDY: Non-Profit Healthcare - Vendor Management

Overview:

Industry Segment: Non-Profit Healthcare

Founded: 1975

Employees: 1000

Headquarters: San Francisco Bay Area

Market Presence: Global

Specialties: Social Services - Adoption, Foster Care, Behavioral Health, Youth Transitionary Services, Intensive Home Care

Problem or Initiative:

A very small team of I.T. engineers with little time and no formal processes were having difficulty managing the complex network connecting 40+ remote sites. Especially challenging was the demanding business requirements imposed by various counties throughout the state of California, pushing the organization to move and add sites on a consistent and rapid level. The lack of resources and formal processes led to continuous application performance issues, system downtime, and delays in site migrations and additions, ultimately resulting in high and unnecessary operational, infrastructure, and vendor service fees.

Blue Tree Service Utilized:

Blue Tree’s Vendor Management practice provided subject matter expertise to the organization, supporting the executive team, corporate I.T. team, and various business units involved with vendor and site operational management, including:

• Documenting technology vendor relationships and services under contract

• Organizing and assessing technology vendor service contracts

• Creating and documenting formal processes and procedures for managing existing vendors

• Creating and documenting formal processes and procedures for procuring new vendor services

• Creating and documenting formal processes for site moves, adds, and changes

• Negotiating new service contracts and re-negotiating existing service contracts to meet best practice standards

• Continuous oversight of technology vendors, contracts, and services

• Ongoing management of all technology vendors and services impacting site moves, adds, and changes

Target Achieved:

• Gained control over vendor service contracts, orders, and contacts

• Established confidence in vendor services, terms, and fees under contract

• Created formal operational processes and procedures that were easily adopted

• Created efficiencies, reduced complexity, and minimized cost

• Created model to hold vendors accountable to expectations

• Improved timelines to accomplish moves, adds, and changes at a more rapid rate

• Enabled client employees to focus efforts on core business activities