What drawbacks have you encountered that leaders should be prepared for as they begin their own consolidation journey?
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Director of IT in Healthcare and Biotech7 months ago
One potential drawback is the risk of locking oneself into one vendor. While there are benefits to this approach, it also comes with its own set of risks. If you're committed to one set of tools, you're essentially following their path. If other best-of-breed tools emerge, you may have to make trade-offs. Justifying the reason for this commitment and deciding why you wouldn't want to go with other arguably superior options are crucial considerations. If you genuinely believe that your chosen vendor is the best in the field, depending on what they provide, then this may not be a significant issue. However, these are two key points that need to be addressed and justified to your executives, especially considering the potential financial commitment involved.CISO in Finance (non-banking)7 months ago
I agree with Matt's points. Additionally, during your initial engagement with vendors, you have some negotiation leverage. However, once you're fully committed, you may lose some of this leverage. This could potentially make it more challenging to negotiate a lower price in the future. Another concern is the potential creation of a single point of failure. This risk needs to be addressed when contemplating consolidation. It's essential to ensure that you have strategies in place to mitigate this risk.
Director of Information Security in Services (non-Government)7 months ago
Another question to consider is whether this single vendor can address all your business requirements and risks. If not, you may need to remediate with either compensating control or another vendor for a specific product. Once you start consolidating, you may find yourself tied to a vendor who insists that you need a particular product of theirs. In such cases, the vendor may not offer you their best discount because they know you need the product. This situation can impact the bottom line significantly.