Main Entry: 1part-ner
Pronunciation: 'pärt-n&r also 'pärd-
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English partener, alteration of parcener, from Anglo-French, coparcener -- more at PARCENER
1 archaic : one that shares : PARTAKER
2 a : one associated with another especially in an action : ASSOCIATE, COLLEAGUE

3 : a member of a partnership especially in a business; also : such membership
4 : one of the heavy timbers that strengthen a ship's deck to support a mast -- usually used in plural

Most people use the term partner but few live up to its definition!
At VDN, partnership directly relates to definition 4: we're the heavy timbers that provide the applications and support to enable your business to do what it does best - provide your customers with both your products and exceptional service.

The "Business Phone Systems Guide" is a periodical published by Better Buys for Business, an independent consumer guide - typically available in local libraries. The section titled "Our Most Important Piece of Advice" applies equally to voice and data systems:

"If we could provide you with only one piece of advice in this article, it would be this: it is vital that you deal with first-class people when you get a new system. It is better to buy an average system from a superb group of people than to buy the finest system from a bunch of idiots or from people who lack experience or just don't care. A poor installation will sabotage the best...system. Bad or thoughtless wiring will leave you with a headache that will bug you for years. Careless programming will mean that you'll never get the most out of all those fancy features. And inadequate training will mean that no one will have a clue how to use them anyway."

Couple this advice with a partner who can provide your company with all of the tools and resources to deal with the Total Cost of Ownership involved in communications applications and you have found a partner that will perform for you in both the good and bad times . We have identified total life cycle and opportunity costs, and illustrate them using the wheel diagram above:

Some of the ways we work with customers:
1. Establish the need. "The day of deep pockets is gone," says Jim Thannum, director of Internet engineering and communications at FedEx Services Corp. in Memphis. "The technology should advance the business. It's not there to entertain us."

2. Select a team, "not just the tech people," says Colleen Mahoney, director of vendor relations for information resources at Marriott International Inc. in Bethesda, Md. An all-tech vendor-selection team is a disaster waiting to happen because members may get blinded by the technology. Include end users and people from finance, training, application development, vendor relations, legal and privacy/security, says Mahoney. At The Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta, a team works with its Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprise Program to keep minority firms in the selection loop.

3. Choose a strategy, says Diane M. Stanko, director of procurement for global IT and services at Alcoa Inc. in Pittsburgh. For example, with technologies such as e-mail, databases and antivirus software, there's a competitive advantage in enabling standard, worldwide use.

4. Focus on total cost of ownership, not just initial cost, says Perkins, and don't get hung up on how much each department pays out. Look at how much your company pays.
5. Consider the value of relationships as you evaluate bids, Mahoney adds, "because not all [vendor] relationships are created equal." For example, because Coca-Cola has identified roughly 20 strategic suppliers, it can often target one or several of them and skip the RFP, says Kimberly Fey, relationship manager for information infrastructure.

If you're rebidding a product or service that's already in place, consider the value of incumbency. "There is a cost to change," Perkins says. "Figure it out upfront." Also, think about intangibles. If a prospective vendor is one of your biggest customers, will it take its business elsewhere if it doesn't get the deal? "Don't forget to factor the value of that relationship into the equation," Perkins says.

6. Be a good customer. Understand the cost structure of the vendor so you can help them cut you a better deal, Perkins says. For example, if you were buying PCs from a reseller, you could offer it an advance monthly buying forecast. That saves the reseller money in RFPs it won't have to answer, inventory it won't have to stock unnecessarily and scheduling costs because company officials know the workload in advance. In return, you should expect great prices and service levels.

This win/win approach is at the heart of all good vendor agreements. "Both sides must benefit from the relationship," Mahoney says. "If we structure a contract where only we benefit, we may end up not getting the best of their resources."

7. Anticipate the future. Perkins once negotiated for a software contract at a time when he knew his company was likely to spin off a division within two years, so he wrote into the contract the ability to transfer licenses at the same price. "You don't always have that luxury, but, to the extent you can, address it," he says. That goes for impending mergers and acquisitions as well.