Many companies rely heavily on third-party systems for significant portions of their operations. Such systems, whether an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system for a healthcare organization or a Point of Sale (POS) system for a retailer, are typically developed entirely by the third party. That means the third party is often in the best position to educate employees on how to use their tools. But there are some important considerations to keep in mind:
What’s the Motive of the Vendor?
Vendors obviously want to retain their customers. But their tools and their ways of doing things may not be the only options available to you. Keep in mind the motivation of the vendor when inviting them in to train your employees. Is it to ensure the most efficient use of their tools? Or is it to ensure ongoing reliance on those tools by your staff?
Build Long-Term, In-Depth Relationships
While being blinded to alternative tools through a too-cozy vendor relationship is certainly a negative, there are advantages to having a close relationship with vendors as well. Vendors can prove to be great resources to customers, particularly in B2B arrangements where close relationships can develop between the staff of both organizations that help with troubleshooting and issue escalation.
Potential Price Advantages
As mentioned previously, vendors often have an ulterior motive when offering training to customers: they want to sell their product. What’s billed as a “training session,” can often be an in-depth sales pitch in disguise. Keep in mind that this isn’t always necessarily bad for the company being trained. Sometimes this “hidden” objective can mean that vendor-provided training can be delivered at little or no cost.
Any time key functions, such as training, are outsourced to a third party, there can be challenges involved in aligning the objectives of performing those functions and ensuring sufficient control over the process. Vendor-provided training is no different. But, in a business environment where complex tools are integral to the operation of a business and the vendor is the most knowledgeable about those tools, there may be little alternative.