KAREN BLAKEMAN

Biography: Karen Blakeman has worked in the information profession for over twenty years and has been a freelance consultant since 1989. Her company (RBA Information Services) provides training and consultancy on the use of the Internet, and on accessing and managing information resources. Karen produces a monthly, electronic newsletter called Tales from the Terminal Room , is a regular contributor to Business Information Searcher and her publications include Search Strategies for the Internet, now in its 6 th edition.   Her blog, which comments on developments in search tools and information resources, can be found at http://www.rba.co.uk/rss/blog.htm . She is a Fellow of CILIP and in 2002 she received the IWR Information Professional of the Year award.  

Title: Vendor Relationships: How to make them work

Summary: We deal in information. Good quality, relevant information delivered in the most effective way is vital to the success of our organizations. In the past we could afford to subscribe to several services and have areas of source overlap. Now, with shrinking budgets, our options are limited and we have to ensure that the suppliers we choose and the contracts we negotiate are the best for the job and our users. The prospect of negotiating a contract with a new supplier or renewing an existing relationship fills many of us with dread and foreboding. This session will suggest positive strategies for making relationships with vendors work to your advantage. In particular, it will focus on:

 improving communications between you and the vendor

 achieving better customer service

 better account management on both sides of the contract

 renegotiating the account and dealing with moving vendor goalposts

 contracts - who to involve, what should be included, and the "gotchas".