Five steps for B2B ICT-service suppliers to co-operate more effectively with customers’ procurement on the Finnish market

ICT-service suppliers in Finland operate in a hectic environment with many external challenges. The challenges companies face in the fast-paced market are fast growth, numerous competitors, new technologies, dependency on certain skills, labour shortage, continuously growing ICT-services etc. According to research, 50 percent of IT projects fail and only 30-35 percent measure tangible benefits. One of six projects overrun an average cost of over 200 percent in which the average time schedule overrun was over 70 percent. This research aims to find a few important points which could help ICT-service suppliers to co-operate more effectively with customers procurement. By reviewing the previous literature and research, the main problems lie in human interaction, knowledge and communication. A qualitative study method was used in order to build knowledge on the previous literature. The qualitative study is based on three interviews with professionals in the Finnish ICT-sector. After analysing the research, five important topics were created for ICT-service suppliers to use in the fast-paced environment. The 5 topics are: 1. Understanding buyer view 2. Gathering & using information/data 3. Effort on preparation 4. Solving across silos 5. Manage contracts continuously Based on this research, the most important factors are that ICT-service suppliers understand the opposite sides view, uses the information provided and opens internal and external communication silos