Working With Your Vendor Improves Success
I just spent the past week working with a client on their conversion from one database to another. The implementation was a success and was especially impressive because of the short time frame: from contract signing to go-live in a mere 8 weeks!
This most recent experience reinforced an axiom that I've long espoused to anyone willing to listen: making your vendor part of your team radically improves the likelihood of a successful database implementation.
In this particular case, the client was looking for a very quick conversion of a database containing more than 125,000 records. The client knew that they were asking a lot of this vendor, to convert so much data so quickly. So they worked very closely with the vendor to identify all of their needs, set a timeline, and focused on the things that needed to happen in order to make such a tight deadline.
The primary reason this was a successful implementation was because the client took it seriously and devoted the resources they needed to make it happen. They worked closely with the vendor, trusted the vendor's opinion on implementation issues that came up, and delivered the things they promised.
Obviously, the vendor did a great job delivering their product in such a short time period. But the client deserves a lot of credit for working with vendor to make it happen.
My advice to you: Whether you're working on your database, a print job, or anything else that involves using a vendor, the most successful projects and relationships are those built on trust and mutual respect. Work with your vendor to identify what needs to happen to make your project a success. A good vendor wants you to succeed; you can help them do that.
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