The Top Five Reasons To Set Up A VMO And What Results To Expect

Forrester receives a significant number of client inquiries asking, "Do you think we need a VMO?" This is not surprising given that less than half of companies have a vendor management office (VMO) in place today, and 11% plan on creating one this year. We inevitably respond, "Well, what is the problem you are trying to solve?" Early in the process, companies usually don't have a good answer to that. They intuitively know that a VMO could improve things but have not taken the time to document an actual problem statement. Why does it matter? Well, without specific challenges, it's difficult to create quantifiable success metrics. Without success metrics, VMOs risk fizzling out and losing momentum after the early, easy wins are out of the way. To help companies that are thinking about setting up a VMO, this report outlines the top pain points as well as the expected benefits that VMOs have reported in our latest interviews. Sourcing and vendor management executives can use this as a starting point for developing their own business case for creating a VMO.