Does your Procurement Department insist on/support/negotiate on-site vendors?
I've worked with many vendors over the years, both on-site and off. Which is better? Technically, it should make no difference, but practically, I found that we had much better relationships with on-site vendors.
I almost hate to admit the above fact since I personally have worked from home as a Purchasing consultant and it made no difference whether I was at a client's location or not. With faxes, cell phones, e-mail, conference calls, the Internet, scanners, and Instant Messaging, all that technology made it seem as if I was in the next cube, not miles away.
However, my experience as a Buyer was that having vendors on-site was always preferable to any alternatives. Among the reasons were end-user confidence, quicker access especially when issues arose, and general rapport. It fostered a true spirit of partnership with the vendors. That could only be in their favors at contract renewal decision time.
I would love to hear about your experiences no matter which side of the fence you land on.
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