Vendor Portfolio Management Toolkit: A Decision Matrix for Vendor Investment

Vendor portfolio managers are under intense pressure to deliver value and cut costs in the current economy. They often have to make snap decisions about portfolio changes and may not have all of the information they need to make the best choices. Those who are faring best have firm processes in place that enable them to make fast, informed, and rationalized decisions about the suite of resources they provide. Outsell recommends applying tenets of investment portfolio management for operating information services to maximize return while managing risk. In this report, we build on this concept to develop a framework for procuring third-party information content, and provide a tool to aid in decision-making. The goal is to balance strategic fit of resources and services with the degree of risk associated with a product’s or vendor’s performance and stability. This report offers:

- A decision matrix methodology that managers can use to identify, prioritize, rank, and rationalize decisions about the resources and services in their existing portfolios;
- A downloadable, tactical tool for creating a decision matrix and vendor leader board based on the portfolio management methodology;
- Tips on using the tool and the vendor leader board;
- Outsell’s recommendations for how to continuously collect information to best determine strategic fit and evaluate performance;
- Imperatives for information managers.