“VMs 2.0: Evolved Skillset of the Modern Vendor Manager” Discussion at GALA 2023

As Senior Supply Chain Business Partner at Vistatec, Raquel del Álamo spoke about the Evolved Skillset of the Modern Vendor Manager at GALA 2023.

In this article, we will discuss the evolution of the Vendor Manager (VM) role, the main pillars of current VM responsibilities, and the VMs’ impact on each party involved: customers, LSPs, and vendors.

Previous VM Role

Initially, VMs are primarily responsible for selection, recruitment, and onboarding. Those still constitute a significant part of their duties or the only part for some.

Recruitment is a nearly invisible task, and other staff within an LSP will only see a small part of the work behind the scenes. Before a new vendor is approved for production, VMs would typically screen and test multiple other vendors.

Additionally, recruitment can be misjudged. Some might think that sourcing language suppliers is as simple as searching online for providers working with that language pair. However, the VM has to assess other aspects, such as level of expertise, communication skills, and tech-savviness.

Changes to VMs’ Scope of Work

The localization industry is constantly evolving, with it, every LSP, regardless of its size. Therefore, vendor managers must adapt and evolve to stay current with the company’s needs, requirements, and new operational procedures.

Vendor managers must get acquainted with new services as they are added to the LSPs’ portfolio. You must first fully grasp those requirements if you are recruiting vendors for transcreation, SEO, copywriting, MT, etc. It is essential to identify the right talent. VMs can be trained on those services.

Simultaneously, to source new services and talent, VMs must uncover new recruitment strategies and channels, stepping outside of our comfort zone and usual sourcing pools.

VM’s Major Ally: Data

Nowadays, companies generate massive amounts of data, and using it wisely is vital to thriving in the industry. VMs are no exception to this rule and use data for various purposes, including capacity planning, quality management, cost control, and representation of cultural and ethical values.

One crucial aspect of keeping the show on the road is vendor managers typically analyze business and customer needs and align with the abilities and capacities of existing vendors. This is a basis offer vs. demand analysis. VMs are also responsible for scalability. This ensures LSPs can deliver the expected services and results to new customers while paying attention to current customers. This means that VMs are there to secure a steady workflow.

However, VMs allocate projects based on more than capacity. We also base our decisions on quality data. VMs set, measure, and monitor quality key performance indicators (KPIs). These are based not only on linguistic quality but also on service delivery or commitment. We interpret, slice, dice, and analyze this information daily, which is crucial when selecting linguistic partners. Misreading this data can impact the quality delivered to end customers and negatively impact the company’s reputation.

As part of our involvement in quality, and because life is not perfect, vendor managers are appointed as an escalation point. This requires a thorough grasp of the existing quality data, the ability to assess and validate the suggested corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), and how those would serve to align with customer expectations and KPIs. Our conflict management skills are generally put to the test in these situations.

The third key factor and fundamental asset for LSPs is cost management. VMs are tasked with analyzing offer vs. demand. How much are vendors charging? How are your customers willing to pay?

With new services springing up, one option to consider is the return on investment (ROI) when sourcing these. To address such challenges, vendor managers often must compare the expected returns and investments between sourcing new suppliers and training existing ones. Here, the LSPs’ capabilities, investment strategy, reputation, and relationship with existing partners come into the equation.

Closely connected with cost, vendor managers have an excellent knowledge of socioeconomics. VMs need to be aware of socioeconomic landscapes, including shifts in national and regional market trends and variations in exchange rates. In-country costs of living are an important factor for pricing. Of course, vendor-preferred payment options are essential to secure collaboration and guarantee that they get fairly compensated for the work they are delivering.

Along with socioeconomic landscapes around the globe, VMs are well acquainted with the cultural values in each country, including awareness of courtesy rules, professional boundaries, and cultural expectations associated with the translator’s role. Besides culturally appropriate treatment, vendors generally expect to be treated individually.

Vendor managers must comply with global and corporate ethics in line with cultural values. Within an LSP, this means passing along corporate values and ethics to the stakeholders they work with. Vendor managers usually act as speakers for the company, as they are the first point of contact for existing and potential vendors. How vendor managers interact with linguistic partners impacts the company’s reputation. From a vendor's standpoint, this implies that vendor managers cater to ensure fairness and corporate and social responsibility.

In conclusion, VMs hold a central pivoting position within the company. These are some of their main contributions to the industry and the parties involved:

For LSPs:

• Production support: to ensure business continuity.

• Cost control: to guarantee the business’ financial success.

• Quality control: to secure customer satisfaction and mitigate further potential costs and impacts on the LSP’s reputation.

• Expectation management: enabling understanding among all parties.

• Relationship management: acting as liaison and escalation point and aligning expectations between customers, LSPs, and LSPs and vendors.

For Customers:

• Production support: helps get projects across the finishing line.

• Talent selection: matching the right talent with projects.

• Quality management: watching over customer expectations and their realization.

For Vendors:

• Ethical values: preserving fairness and relaying corporate values.

• Community management: match-making projects and linguists and providing opportunities for growth and development.

• Expectation management: ensuring that vendors deliver a service and receive something in return from the LSPs they work for.