Building a collaborative working relationship with your strategic suppliers can truly be a game changer for most organisations. You’ll already know from experience that when suppliers understand your goals and align with them, everything seems to run far more smoothly and the value you drive from these collaborative relationships, is (or can be), exemplary. And, this is the reason why it is so important to look out for and nurture ‘Intelligent Supplier’ behaviours wherever possible.
This article is an introduction to a series which identifies eight key behaviours that set Intelligent Suppliers apart from their peers. It shows why encouraging these behaviours can lead to more effective, flexible and successful partnerships that drive maximum value between you. Often, it’s the little things we do that can have the biggest impact in the world of complex supplier relationships.
These behaviours have been evidenced by the insights we have taken from misaligned projects, insights from court rulings in complex project disputes involving strategic suppliers, along with just really great practice we have been fortunate enough to be involved in with some amazing client and supplier organisations.
Included in this article:
- Defining the Intelligent Supplier
- Aligning with (and Sometimes Challenging) the Client’s Strategy
- Supporting the Client’s Business Objectives (Especially When They Change)
- Demonstrating Commercial Trust
- Being a Critical Yet Constructive Partner
- Leading the Innovation Journey
- Adapting Contract Terms to Evolving Needs
- Client Engagement Function
- Evidencing Technical and Domain Expertise
Below is the evidenced-based definition of the Intelligent Supplier and the context for these crucial behaviours.
What is an Intelligent Supplier?
An Intelligent Supplier is a supplier-side team that appropriately responds to, supports and critical-friend challenges their client’s business vision, outcomes, objectives, strategy and behaviours. Intelligent Supplier behaviours support collaboration and innovation with their clients to ensure client business outcomes and objectives are achieved, while also ensuring they can legitimately, openly and honestly achieve their own objectives.
Defining the Intelligent Supplier
If you have a strategic supplier that actively engages in a strategic partnership-level relationship with you, offering not only support but also constructive challenges, with a view to adding quantified value to your vision and goals, then it is likely you are already working with an Intelligent Supplier. An Intelligent Supplier goes above and beyond, not only merely fulfilling contract terms but demonstrating behaviours that foster collaboration, innovation and mutual success. This is no easy feat as it involves gaining a deep understanding of a client’s changing business objectives and adapting to them, establishing commercial trust and actively managing the innovation process, among other key behaviours. The Intelligent Supplier aims to create a relationship that benefits both parties through continuous improvement, adaptability and a focus on achieving the client’s stated business outcomes.
8 Key Intelligent Supplier Behaviours
If this is something you are already achieving, or if not, aspire to achieve with your strategic suppliers, read more below about each of the eight key behaviours to help a critical friend assess your existing thinking to drive maximum value between you.
-
Aligning with (and Sometimes Challenging) the Client’s Strategy
An Intelligent Supplier doesn’t blindly follow a client’s strategy – it immerses itself in it to ensure that the chosen approach aligns with its client’s broader goals. This behaviour is crucial because it demonstrates the supplier’s commitment to not simply meeting its contractual obligations, but to striving to effectively contribute to the client’s success. At times this will involve more deeply exploring, and potentially constructively challenging, the client’s strategy when the supplier has sight of what it believes to be more effective ways to achieve the client’s desired outcomes. This balance between alignment and challenge is a delicate one. If communicated poorly by the supplier and received as a ‘criticism’ by the client, it can lead to conflict and disruption. Alternatively, if communications are consistently handled well, it fosters a collaborative relationship where both parties are invested in reaching the best possible results. By taking this approach, the supplier becomes a valuable partner, not just a vendor, contributing insights that can refine and enhance a client’s strategic direction. A more detailed article covering this insight is here.
-
Supporting the Client’s Business Objectives (especially when they change)
This is all about both the supplier and the client committing to flexibility, adaptability and added value, because it’s important for a supplier to deliver on a client’s business objectives, even when those objectives evolve and change. This flexibility to reasonably adapt to the inevitability of change – whether due to market trends, technological advancements or strategic business pivots – is an important behavioural trait of any Intelligent Supplier. By staying attuned to the evolution of the client organisation, supported by your project, a supplier will demonstrate its genuine commitment to a client’s success, rather than simply ticking off the contractual requirements. Responsiveness to reasonable change and a dedication to gaining an understanding of the new business or project objectives, so processes and resources can be allocated accordingly, sets Intelligent Suppliers apart from their brethren. This proactive approach fosters a stronger partnership, where the supplier is seen as a strategic and trusted ally, determined to help a client navigate the project’s uncertainty and to capitalise on any emerging opportunities.
-
Demonstrating Commercial Trust
Commercial trust is the cornerstone of any meaningful client–supplier relationship and Intelligent Suppliers excel in building and maintaining this trust. This is achieved by operating with transparency and integrity, ensuring that all actions align with a client’s best interests. An Intelligent Supplier encourages open dialogue, allowing the client to ask questions and seek clarification without hesitation. And an Intelligent Supplier evidences trustworthiness through due diligence and care, by doing what it says it is going to do, when it says it is going to do it, consistently. By fostering an environment of trust, the supplier and client can engage in honest conversations about expectations, risks, and opportunities without fear of potential reprisal from each other. This paves the way for a partnership that’s built on reliability and mutual respect.
-
Being a Critical Yet Constructive Partner (a Critical Friend, with emphasis on the ‘Friend’ bit)
An Intelligent Supplier understands the value of being a critical, yet constructive partner, even if this means questioning the client’s requirements, expected business outcomes, contracted project KPIs and so forth. This friendly challenge from the supplier is not aimed at the supplier trying to water down its obligations. The challenge is to constructively explore with the client all the elements of the project or its approach that are likely to hinder its success or inadvertently steer it away from the client’s ultimate objectives. Instead of simply accepting project requirements, expected business outcomes and KPIs as they are, an Intelligent Supplier explores them with the client from multiple angles, jointly identifying and clarifying any misalignments or inefficiencies. This critical approach is always balanced with constructive feedback, offering alternative solutions or adjustments that often lead to better outcomes. By challenging the status quo in a thoughtful manner, the supplier helps its client not only avoid potential pitfalls and ensures the project stays on track, but ultimately supports driving much better value, leading to a more effective and efficient relationship.
-
Leading the Innovation Journey
Leading the innovation journey is a defining trait of an Intelligent Supplier. This behaviour goes beyond delivering what’s expected – it involves proactively exploring new ideas and encouraging the client to engage in the innovation process. An Intelligent Supplier doesn’t wait for the client to request changes. Instead, it uses its deep domain knowledge of the client’s organisation acquired from its experience in delivering complex services or projects, to regularly propose improvements, whether in technology, processes or business models. It identifies and carves out specific client involvement in pilot projects and offers a collaborative space to test and refine these innovations. By taking the lead in this way, the supplier helps its client stay ahead of the curve, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, creativity and joint working. This proactive approach to innovation not only enhances the quality of the supplier–client relationship but also drives huge value for both parties.
-
Adapting Contract Terms to Evolving Needs
Contract terms often start life misaligned to the business outcomes a client thinks it will achieve from the successful delivery of the project or services it has procured. Due to business, organisational or legislative changes, even contract terms that commence a strategic supplier relationship in an aligned way, often veer off track over the years that follow. A misaligned contract at any stage of a complex project or service delivery usually becomes a roadblock, preventing both parties from achieving their goals. By ensuring that contract terms are specifically designed at the outset to encourage the ‘right’ behaviours between supplier and client and are clearly aligned to successfully support the business outcomes the client anticipates, then Intelligent Suppliers create a foundation for fostering these ‘right’ behaviours from everyone involved. And, structuring biannual reviews to realign the requirements, financial and commercial models, reshaping (changing requirements) with realigning client objectives and circumstances, demonstrates not only a commitment to flexibility and collaboration but a recognition of the real-world requirement for adaptability to the inevitable shifting sands. This willingness to ensure that contract terms and other supplementary contractual documentation evolve reflects a supplier’s focus on fostering a successful, long-term relationship, where both sides can grow and change together.
-
Client Engagement Function
An Intelligent Supplier recognises its counterpoints on the client side, your Intelligent Client Function (ICF) team. A supplier that actively engages with your ICF team to ensure full transparency and open communication is the ideal. By establishing a clear and consistent line of dialogue, the supplier provides your ICF team with the necessary visibility into any issues, changes and innovations that are likely to positively or negatively affect the project or relationship. This level of engagement simplifies the entire process, reducing uncertainty and promoting trust, allowing both sides to address concerns promptly and work together toward successful outcomes.
-
Evidencing Technical and Domain Expertise
Your supplier should be able to back up its claims with the effectiveness of how it delivers proven results to you, showcasing technical and domain expertise through the outcomes it has delivered for both you and other clients. This behaviour is about more than just having the right skills. It’s about demonstrating a track record of success within the supplier’s specific area of expertise. An Intelligent Supplier can point to real-world examples where a tangible impact has been achieved, providing independently verified case studies, testimonials, or performance metrics to support claimed expertise. This evidence-based approach not only establishes credibility but also gives clients confidence in an Intelligent Supplier’s ability to meet their unique needs.
Building Successful Partnerships with Intelligent Suppliers
An Intelligent Supplier really is a powerful partner in any business relationship – providing the client embraces and collaborates with them in the right manner. An Intelligent Supplier’s ability to align with client strategies, adapt to changing objectives, demonstrate commercial trust and lead innovation (with the client also performing its part in the innovation process), contributes to a level of collaboration that ultimately has a greater chance of driving successful outcomes. By being a critical yet constructive partner, engaging with client teams and adapting contract terms and supplementary documentation to meet evolving needs, Intelligent Suppliers create a framework that fosters transparency and builds trust.
These traits make these suppliers more likely to meet or exceed your expectations, ultimately leading to a win-win scenario. When clients see their suppliers taking a proactive, flexible, and innovative approach, they’re more inclined to extend their trust and award additional, often more win-win, profitable projects. This benefits both parties – the client gets reliable, high-quality service and great value, and the supplier gains opportunities for future collaboration.
In conclusion, embracing the concept of the Intelligent Supplier and fostering these eight key behaviours, is not just about meeting contractual obligations, it’s about building a partnership that can evolve, adapt, and thrive in the face of change, creating excellent value for all involved.
