Vendor Audit Maturity Model

Best practice

Vendor Audit Maturity Model

The table below summarises the different results achieved by an organisation faced with a vendor audit depending on their maturity. Success with vendor audits is not only about having sound ITAM processes and procedures in place but also the correct attitude towards the situation, swift action, and strong negotiation.

I welcome your feedback or comments on this model or your experiences with vendor audits, either in the comments section below or by emailing me directly at alerts (at) itassetmanagement.net.

Stage	Characteristics	Vendor Behaviour	Likely Outcome
Denial	Customer does not recognise the issue until it is too late or worse still ignores the issue hoping it will resolve itself.	Heavy handed compliance tactics, back penalties, possible press exposure.	Crippling penalties. For example
Suprise Audit	No inventory of assets or purchase history compiled.	Vendor likely to take advantage of lack of information for revenue generation.	Taken to the cleaners. Repeat in 18 months time.
Expected Audit	Anticipating an audit for some time. Have limited or incomplete audit and purchase history.	Vendor uses shortfalls / missing information to negotiate upgrades or multi-year tie-in deals.	Vendor-led negotiation
Prepared	End user tells vendor what they have, what they need and what they want. For example	Vendors typically walk away and find more lucrative audit opportunities.	Customer-led negotiation.

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