Blog.

What we have learned across 500+ IT sourcing, vendor management and transformation engagements — written by the people who ran them. Filter on the right.

Pillar · Vendor management 14 min

The complete guide to IT vendor management.

Strategy, frameworks, and what works — from 500+ engagements and €3B in negotiated contract volume.

Pillar · Savings 13 min

IT vendor spend optimization: recover 10–40% of your IT budget.

The 8 categories where overpayment hides, the renegotiation envelope, the 30/60/90 playbook.

Pillar · RFX 15 min

How to run a complex IT tender in 6–8 weeks.

Zero Vendor Deviation™: the methodology that makes vendor responses comparable line-for-line.

Pillar · Consolidation 12 min

From 47 vendors to 5 strategic partners.

Why vendor sprawl isn't a procurement problem, and the architecture rationalization lands on.

Pillar · Contracts 12 min

From signature to savings: a practical guide.

The 7-stage lifecycle, the 8 renewal traps, and what AI contract analysis actually finds.

Pillar · SRM 11 min

SRM: the CRM you don't have for your vendors.

The asymmetry between how customers and suppliers get managed — and how to close it.

Pillar · Operations 12 min

Find and eliminate the 20% your processes waste.

The IT operational excellence pillar: landscape assessment, process mining, application rationalization.

Pillar · Governance 12 min

The framework that keeps vendors accountable.

Three-tier vendor governance, scorecards that actually drive behaviour, and the cadence that produces decisions.

Pillar · Strategy 12 min

Digital transformation without vendor chaos.

The IT leader's sourcing guide: cloud governance, hyperscaler management, transformation that scales.

Pillar · SRM Tools 13 min

Vendor management software: the 2026 buyer's guide.

SRM vs CLM vs VMS, the evaluation criteria that matter, the 5 failure modes that recur.

Cluster · Definition 9 min

What is IT vendor management? A CIO's complete definition.

The function, the scope, the five capability pillars. What makes vendor management different from procurement.

Cluster · Lifecycle 10 min

The 7-stage IT vendor management lifecycle.

Practical framework, not theory. Each stage with its failure modes and the controls that catch them.

Cluster · VMO build 10 min

How to build a Vendor Management Office, step-by-step.

A 12-month build path. Scope, structure, capabilities, tooling — in the order that produces early value.

Cluster · Governance model 9 min

The Three-Tier Vendor Governance Model explained.

Three layers, three cadences, three sets of decisions. Skipping any layer is the most common cause of governance decay.

Cluster · KPIs 10 min

15 IT vendor management KPIs that actually measure performance.

Five dimensions: delivery, commercial, risk, relationship, innovation. Plus the metrics that look authoritative but tell you nothing.

Cluster · Terminology 7 min

Vendor management vs supplier management.

Used interchangeably. They shouldn't be. In mature organizations they're different functions with different scopes and governance.

Cluster · Hidden cost 9 min

The hidden cost of poor IT vendor management.

Across 500+ engagements: 15–25% of vendor spend leaks through seven specific channels. Almost none shows up in the budget.

Cluster · Maturity 10 min

Vendor management maturity: where do you actually stand?

25 diagnostic questions. The honest scoring most self-assessments don't produce.

Cluster · Vendor selection 9 min

How to choose the right vendors for your IT portfolio.

Five evaluation dimensions. The framework that surfaces real differentiation. Plus the four failure modes.

Cluster · Mid-market 8 min

Vendor management for mid-market DACH companies.

Too complex for SME approaches, too small for enterprise VMOs. The hybrid model that actually fits.

Cluster · Manifesto 11 min

The Vendor Governance Vacuum™.

Where 15–25% of IT vendor spend leaks. The structural gap between contract signature and contract delivery. Named, sized, and closeable.

Cluster · Risk framework 10 min

A practical framework for IT vendor risk.

Seven categories. Five scoring signals each. Three escalation thresholds. Operational from day one.

Cluster · Performance reviews 8 min

Vendor performance reviews that actually drive improvement.

Most reviews are theatre. Here's how to run one that produces decisions instead of slide decks.

Cluster · Overpayment 8 min

Why you're overpaying your IT vendors by 10–40%.

Not an exceptional finding. The structural baseline. Where it hides, and why you almost never see it without external benchmark.

Cluster · Auto-renewal 8 min

The auto-renewal trap.

The most reliable mechanism for converting one-time decisions into permanent overpayments. Hides in 60%+ of mid-cap portfolios.

FAQ · VMO 6 min

What is a Vendor Management Office (VMO)?

The function that owns the supplier portfolio across the lifecycle. Often confused with procurement.

FAQ · Methodology 5 min

What is Zero Vendor Deviation™?

Aventario's RFP methodology. Built so vendors cannot deviate from the structure of the question.

FAQ · Definitions 5 min

SLA vs OLA vs KPI: the differences that matter.

Three terms, three jobs. The confusion between them is where most SLA disputes actually live.

FAQ · Framework 6 min

What is the Kraljic Matrix?

The default supplier-segmentation tool, applied to IT. Four quadrants, four approaches, one critical mistake.

FAQ · Risk 6 min

What is IT vendor risk?

Seven categories. Each has a different signal, a different cadence, and a different forum.

FAQ · Contracts 6 min

What is a frame contract in IT sourcing?

A master agreement that pre-negotiates terms. The leverage tool when designed well; the lock-in trap when designed badly.

FAQ · Segmentation 5 min

Strategic vs tactical supplier — the difference.

Two different jobs, two different management models. Mistaking one for the other reliably destroys value.

FAQ · Portfolio 5 min

What is vendor sprawl?

The residue of many reasonable local decisions, made in the absence of a global view. Invisible until it isn't.

FAQ · Governance 6 min

What is IT outsourcing governance?

The buyer-side capability that holds an outsourcing provider accountable. Frequently assumed to come with the deal.

FAQ · Operations 6 min

What is process mining?

Reconstructing actual process behaviour from system event logs. The documented process and the real one are different.

FAQ · Contracts 5 min

What is change request management?

The mechanism that handles in-flight scope change. Reliably the largest source of uncontrolled cost growth in IT outsourcing.

FAQ · RFX 5 min

What is a weighted evaluation matrix?

The scoring tool that turns qualitative responses into a defensible ranking. Also where most RFPs introduce bias.

FAQ · Segmentation 5 min

What is supplier segmentation?

The discipline of grouping vendors by strategic value so management effort matches relationship value.

FAQ · CLM 5 min

What is Contract Lifecycle Management for IT?

The structured process of managing IT contracts from request to renewal. Most organizations think they have it; few actually do.

FAQ · Maturity 6 min

The Vendor Management Maturity Model.

Five stages: reactive, defined, managed, integrated, optimized. Most DACH mid-caps sit at stage 2.

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