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Poll: What do you appreciate the most in working with companies with dedicated Vendor Management?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:45
Member (2004)
English to Italian
Nothing positive... Jan 19, 2021

I dread receiving emails from "vendor management"... they usually ask for some kind of discount or to lower your rates...

Mervyn Henderson (X)
Christopher Schröder
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
P.L.F. Persio
Kay Denney
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:45
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Managing Jan 19, 2021

I don't know what a dedicated vendor is - or even just a vendor. And managing them? That's not in my world. Isn't a vendor somebody who knocks on your door trying to sell you something? I suppose that does call for dedication. So a dedicated vendor would be a good door-to-door sales person. Like in "Death of a Salesman". Dedicated but a failure. How can you manage something like that?

[Edited at 2021-01-19 14:07 GMT]


Christopher Schröder
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Kay Denney
 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 17:45
Spanish to English
+ ...
@Giovanni Jan 19, 2021

Now that you say it, that's right.

They never get in touch to see how their vendor's doing, do they? No, just to see if they want to vend cheaper.


Christopher Schröder
P.L.F. Persio
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Vending Jan 19, 2021

I suspect dealing with freelancers might be a bit like dealing with a vending machine.

You put your coins in and press the button for a Twix but nothing comes out until you give it a good shake and then out pops a can of out-of-date Vimto.


Mervyn Henderson (X)
Axelle H.
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Kay Denney
expressisverbis
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 16:45
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
What do I appreciate? Jan 19, 2021

Nothing! These are three words that make me shiver. All I want is a PM who knows his/her job and is pleasant to work with. I don’t work with any of those giant translation agencies with hundreds of project managers but only with smaller, independent companies where I’ve been working with the same people for years and I’m very appreciative of that…

Tom in London
P.L.F. Persio
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Christopher Schröder
Joanna Posylek
 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 12:45
German to English
Organizational tool, largely irrelevant to translator Jan 19, 2021

I've worked with a number of agencies with vendor managers, and in my experience, their impact on translators is minimal, apart from collecting vacation schedules or disseminating agency-wide policies such as requiring spelling checks or the use of online invoicing platforms.

Organizationally, however, they perform potentially useful activities such as handling the volume of applications, arranging the evaluation of résumés and CVs, maintaining relationships with other agencies an
... See more
I've worked with a number of agencies with vendor managers, and in my experience, their impact on translators is minimal, apart from collecting vacation schedules or disseminating agency-wide policies such as requiring spelling checks or the use of online invoicing platforms.

Organizationally, however, they perform potentially useful activities such as handling the volume of applications, arranging the evaluation of résumés and CVs, maintaining relationships with other agencies and other internal tasks.

To be honest, there are a lot of internal activities at agencies I don't care about, such as whether they pay their sales force a salary or commission or whether their PMs get free coffee or health insurance.

My only concern is that I get treated with at least a modicum of respect and am paid my rate in a timely manner.
Collapse


P.L.F. Persio
Liena Vijupe
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Christopher Schröder
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
expressisverbis
 
Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 13:45
Portuguese to English
+ ...
? Jan 19, 2021

What is 'dedicated vendor management'?

 
matt robinson
matt robinson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 17:45
Member (2010)
Spanish to English
Caveat venditor Jan 19, 2021

If the organisation is large enough to have a "dedicated vendor manager" then you can be sure both it and they will not be dedicated to developing a personal, long-term relationship for the benefit of both parties. They will have a "vendor policy" which is more or less applicable to all their translators, and the policy will be largely aimed at squeezing out every last farthing.

Christopher Schröder
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Kay Denney
Marina Taffetani
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
As before Jan 19, 2021

Paul Dixon wrote:

What is 'dedicated vendor management'?


It means they have staff who devote all or most of their time to vendor management.

Vendor management is about managing the relationship with suppliers, in this case freelance translators. The equivalent of a personnel/HR department. Recruitment, rates, disputes, information. All the admin that isn’t related to specific translation projects and dealt with by a project manager.


Mervyn Henderson (X)
Kevin Fulton
expressisverbis
 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 12:45
German to English
Not always the case Jan 19, 2021

matt robinson wrote:

If the organisation is large enough to have a "dedicated vendor manager" then you can be sure both it and they will not be dedicated to developing a personal, long-term relationship for the benefit of both parties. They will have a "vendor policy" which is more or less applicable to all their translators, and the policy will be largely aimed at squeezing out every last farthing.


Vendor policies can be useful to establish uniform procedures ensuring continuity in the event of personnel changes; in the long run standardization can support efficiency. Personally, I'd rather not work for an agency in which various PMs apply ad hoc procedures for document management.

One agency with a dedicated vendor manager paid for three overseas visits to its clients and invited me to its home office, again at their expense. The company also used to send Christmas cards with group staff pictures so translators could see what their PMs looked like. Thus, I'm not convinced that organizational controls such as vendor management are necessarily disadvantageous to translators.


Christopher Schröder
 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:45
German to English
+ ...
Never heard of it, sort of hope not to meet it Jan 20, 2021

I work for end clients and small translation companies where the PM knows what they are doing and how to work with both me and their end client. "Vendor management" sounds like something complicated for large entities. I may be wrong.

Christopher Schröder
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 17:45
French to English
. Jan 20, 2021

Chris S wrote:

The equivalent of a personnel/HR department.

I was going to say, except that we're not personnel. If such agencies were to treat us as staff, it would be great, as it is they mostly seem to be the kind of agency that puts most pressure on you to lower your rates, require you to jump through most hoops and subject you to the most bureaucratic time-wasting absurdities.
I know of an agency where nobody wants to be VM, it's a role that gets hot potato treatment, because their main task is finding cheap translators willing to wait at least six months to be paid (they actually make the translator sign a document to that effect).


Christopher Schröder
Zibow Retailleau
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 17:45
Spanish to English
+ ...
Who'd be a VM? Jan 20, 2021

Kay's comment, on top of what I said earlier about how VMs are never contacting you to say, "Hi there, luv, is everything going fine? That's wonderful ... do you know, we're so happy with you here that we're going to pay you more, yes, really, no, you deserve it, sure you do ..." indeed made me think about what it must be like to be a VM. Can't be a popular job, sure enough. Who wants to be the rate-cutting bogeyman and get fuming rants for replies, barely contained rage or maybe just stony sile... See more
Kay's comment, on top of what I said earlier about how VMs are never contacting you to say, "Hi there, luv, is everything going fine? That's wonderful ... do you know, we're so happy with you here that we're going to pay you more, yes, really, no, you deserve it, sure you do ..." indeed made me think about what it must be like to be a VM. Can't be a popular job, sure enough. Who wants to be the rate-cutting bogeyman and get fuming rants for replies, barely contained rage or maybe just stony silence?Collapse


Kay Denney
Christopher Schröder
Zibow Retailleau
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
The forgotten 60% Jan 20, 2021

Mervyn Henderson wrote:

Kay's comment, on top of what I said earlier about how VMs are never contacting you to say, "Hi there, luv, is everything going fine? That's wonderful ... do you know, we're so happy with you here that we're going to pay you more, yes, really, no, you deserve it, sure you do ..." indeed made me think about what it must be like to be a VM. Can't be a popular job, sure enough. Who wants to be the rate-cutting bogeyman and get fuming rants for replies, barely contained rage or maybe just stony silence?



But us regular commenters are just a bunch of jaded old hacks at the end of the day. 60% of people in the poll found something good about having a dedicated VM.

Sexy Sandra* clearly leapt at the chance of promotion to VM. Maybe she’d always enjoyed those Saturday afternoon trips to World of Leather. Maybe it was just the money. Or just the chance to dance her way slightly higher up the greasy pole. Or maybe she gets inundated with chocolates and flowers from delighted freelancers thanking her for inviting them to those 4 a.m. trainings. The forgotten 60%. The silent, grateful majority.

“Thank you madam for encouraging this lowly worm to lower his rates and embrace your systems and be a leaner, meaner translation machine. May I lick your boots now?”

“No, you miserable excuse for a translator. Not until you’ve cleaned my TMs.”

“Oh, you make me feel all fuzzy inside.”


Zibow Retailleau
Mervyn Henderson (X)
P.L.F. Persio
expressisverbis
 
Philip Lees
Philip Lees  Identity Verified
Greece
Local time: 18:45
Greek to English
Alternative poll suggestion Jan 21, 2021

Chris S wrote:

But us regular commenters are just a bunch of jaded old hacks at the end of the day. 60% of people in the poll found something good about having a dedicated VM.



Perhaps we need another poll with the question loaded in the other direction:

"What do you hate most about working with companies that have dedicated Vendor Management?"

... add suitable alternative answers.

Anybody want to speculate about the percentage of responders who would find something to dislike?


Mervyn Henderson (X)
Christopher Schröder
P.L.F. Persio
Marina Taffetani
 
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Poll: What do you appreciate the most in working with companies with dedicated Vendor Management?






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