Business Application Maintenance Services Category Procurement Intelligence Report

Business practices within Business Application Maintenance Services market are heavily influenced by changing trends across the category as well as within the broader Support market. Stringency in the regulatory norms pertaining to data protection and cybersecurity has increased compliance and security burden on suppliers. These additional costs have a potential to drive marginal increase in prices across the key geographies.

The cut-throat competition in the category is compelling suppliers to go aggressive on their pricing structure and increase their spend on sales and marketing activities. As a result, most suppliers are feeling a pressure on their margins and trying to offer higher margin value added services to have a better control on their profitability.

New locations and vendors are emerging as cost effective suppliers of Business Application Maintenance Services, offering an opportunity to widen the supplier base and gain further negotiation leverage with incumbent suppliers.

As a result, category managers need to closely monitor the Business Application Maintenance Services procurement trends and identify changes required in their procurement environment for the category.

As market conditions become more dynamic and procurement practices get more sophisticated, category managers need to be cognizant of the best practices that work for their Business Application Maintenance Services category procurement. The report offers a succinct analysis of Business Application Maintenance Services procurement best practices.

For example, Needs of buyers can vary depending on the industry where buyers operate. For instance, buyers from the financial services industry give high importance to regulatory compliance and data security, whereas buyers from the e-commerce industry prioritize high throughput, low response time, and high scalability. Hence, service providers with a strong knowledge of the security, compliance, and governance needs of buyers' industries and a proven track record of performance with respect to these aspects should be prioritized.

Buyers must clearly define clauses pertaining to the ownership of subcontracting services that are not a part of preferred suppliers' portfolios. Subcontractors should be bound by the same terms and conditions as the main contractor to ensure consistency in quality and manage any adverse event such as data breach.

Procurement functions should develop custom processes to gain better visibility and involve Business Application Maintenance Services suppliers early in the procurement process.

Business Application Maintenance Services procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Business Application Maintenance Services procurement. Some examples include: