Negotiate to Win for Information Technology Professionals

Why do Information Technology (IT) Professionals need negotiating training? Although it's rarely acknowledged, one of the more important hats worn by today's information technology professional is that of negotiator. IT specialists negotiate constantly with senior management, project teams, finance specialists, lawyers, vendors, each other, and many others.

IT's ongoing challenge—to simultaneously maintain a high level of service, satisfy requests for increased functionality, and prepare for the future—calls for exceptional negotiating skills. Unfortunately, even the most experienced and talented IT professionals rarely have such skills.

Most IT professionals, no matter how brilliant they may be, don't have a clue about how to negotiate. This is no small matter. A contemporary organization's success is increasingly dependent on good information systems support. But today's IT department usually doesn't enjoy the abundant patronage its ever-more crucial role would seem to warrant. Instead, IT fights a daily, uphill struggle to satisfy mounting customer demands with inadequate resources.  IT specialists desperately need to improve their bargaining skills, and that's why Common Ground International developed Negotiate to WIN® for Information Technology Systems Professionals.  By quickly and effectively equipping your team with the powerful negotiating skills they need, Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals will help your organization succeed.

Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals brings the proven impact of Negotiate to WIN®, the definitive "how-to" program that has transformed tens of thousands of attendees into accomplished negotiators, to the extraordinary challenges facing IT organizations today. You've made a huge investment in information technology. Improve your return on your investment and obtain a competitive edge by giving your IT team the awesome power of good negotiating.

Who Should Attend Negotiate to WIN

for Information Technology Professionals?

Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals is intended for both new and experienced information technology professionals.  Team attendance is encouraged.  Negotiate to WIN is not a prerequisite.

Methodology

Like Negotiate to WIN, Negotiate to Win for Information Technology Professionals creates a "high-immersion" training environment for maximum participation and learning.  Instructional methods include multimedia, lecture, group discussion, diagnostic tests and evaluations, simulations, and other interactive techniques. During the program, students are regularly challenged to demonstrate what they've learned through generic and customized case study simulations.

Session Length

Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals is typically a two-day program.  However, program length can be adjusted to fit your requirements—from under one hour to two or more days.

Instructors

Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals is presented by IT experts from IT's perspective.  Common Ground's experienced and internationally-renowned facilitators are uniquely proficient in technology-based negotiations and bring an abundance of practical and creative solutions to Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals. Please click here for information about our instructors.

Tailoring

Many firms promise tailored programs but deliver the same tired old materials.  Common Ground is different.  When we say tailored, we mean it.  We work with you to ensure that Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals thoroughly and specifically addresses your organization's priorities and concerns. We interview your people and (confidentially, of course) we learn your business—who you are, what you do, how you do it, where your industry stands and where you stand in your industry, what your short- and long-term objectives are, what circumstances your negotiators face, and who your target audience will be. With this information in hand, we prepare unique training materials for you.

Tailored case studies—lifelike scenarios that students can instantly relate to—are the best way to clarify, validate, and reinforce classroom concepts, and make them immediately transferable to the workplace.  Common Ground is unsurpassed when it comes to the creation of unique, client-specific exercises.  We work in partnership with you to develop convincingly realistic scenarios that will excite and inform your attendees at no additional charge.  Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals is flexibly designed to complement and reinforce your organization's current training.

Highlights

• The key role of negotiating in the modern information technology organization.

• Negotiating expectations: moving from the traditional "free" paradigm to a fee-for-services model; realistic support levels.

• Tips for negotiating with upper management; gaining approval and organizational buy-in for IT's recommendations; bargaining for resources.

• Negotiating the implementation of new systems and enhancements,

• Project management negotiations: planning, design, requirements, deliverables, schedule, acceptance criteria, and execution. 

• Choosing between competitive bidding and negotiating; alternatives to negotiating for small-dollar-value purchases; handling the single bid/single source situation.

• Legal issues and IT; common negotiable contract provisions; the "Battle of the Forms;" ownership of intellectual property; contract traps and hidden price escalators; negotiating for technical support; service level agreements; price protection.

• Negotiating flexible contract options; handling upgrades and new technologies; infrastructure modifications. 

• Team negotiating: making the best use of multifunctional and project teams, experts, legal and other resources.

• Post-negotiation issues; monitoring performance; measurement and tracking mechanisms; characteristics of successfully implemented agreements.

• Tips for profitable vendor relationships; developing a common approach to vendors; basic ordering agreements; long-term agreements; organization-wide agreements; licensing and consortial agreements; strategic alliances; process re-engineering; strategic cost containment; incentivizing on-time performance and quality improvement.

• E-commerce, e-business, and e-procurement.

Confidentiality

In all aspects of their work with Common Ground, clients are assured of complete confidentiality. Our commitment to discretion and privacy encourages clients to give us access to the information we need to customize Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals for maximum participation and learning.  Upon request, Common Ground International will be pleased to formalize this promise with a Nondisclosure Agreement.

Participant Materials

Participants receive a variety of valuable in-class and take-home handouts and tools, including checklists, case studies, samples, guides, a pocket reference card, and a personal action planner. All participants who do not already have one receive a copy of the outstanding Negotiate to WIN Manual, a practical negotiation reference they will continue to use long after the workshop.

On-Site Requirements

You provide the training facility, an LCD projector, a screen, a flip chart and markers, and above all, enthusiastic attendees who sincerely want to improve their negotiating skills! Optional items such as sign-in sheets, evaluation forms, writing materials, name cards and badges, and diplomas are supplied by clients.

Our Guarantee

Our guarantee is very straightforward. We think it says a lot about the effectiveness of Common Ground International training. We guarantee that within two weeks after Negotiate to WIN for Information Technology Professionals, you'll recover the price of the session through better negotiating. If not, we'll refund your money!

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