Upcoming ISG Smartalks™ sessions will explore reducing risk and maximizing benefits in third-party relationships, cloud provider ecosystems and SAP S/4 HANA upgrades

Experts with Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm, will offer advice on mitigating supplier and transformation risk in three upcoming ISG Smartalks™ webinars in June, the firm announced today.

The webinars come at a time when enterprises are relying more than ever on complex ecosystems of cloud and other technology providers to run their businesses, and with those relationships, ISG experts say, comes increased risk that needs to be managed to reap the rewards.

“The pandemic has reminded us that no business is immune to adverse events,” said Lois Coatney, partner and president, ISG GovernX®, a leading vendor compliance and risk management platform. “In today’s disaggregated business environment, the risks have never been higher, but the good news is, they can be effectively managed to realize the full benefits of partner relationships.”

Solutions for managing third-party risk will be presented in the ISG Smartalks webinar, “Automating Supplier Compliance and Risk Management,” Tuesday, June 1, at 3 p.m., U.S. Eastern Time. During the hour-long session, Coatney and other ISG experts will offer strategies for building trusted supplier relationships, managing supplier performance, keeping environments stable when working with third parties, and leveraging technology to manage thousands of providers.

“The most effective organizations,” Coatney said, “are building complete visibility into each of their supplier relationships, ensuring they have ready access to key contract terms and conditions, business continuity and disaster recovery plans and service delivery locations and subcontractors, so they can respond immediately in case of an emergency or a breach.”

Coatney said businesses should proactively monitor the market, put alert mechanisms in place and maintain regular communication with suppliers to align expectations and monitor performance. “Visibility, analytics and automation are essential in assuring contract compliance and stability across complex and vast supplier relationships. The impact of suppliers on the enterprise environment can be precarious, and enterprises literally cannot afford to be lax.”

During the webinar, “Cloud Provider Ecosystems: What Good Looks Like,” on Tuesday, June 8, at 11 a.m., U.S. Eastern Time, speakers will warn against one-size-fits-all cloud transformation strategies that often lure large enterprises into overspending and result in provider lock-in, loss of agility and costly separations from provider partners.

“To move to the cloud, many companies look to system integration partners who understand the implementation journey, but they run the risk of inadvertently paying for work that may not meet their needs,” said Shafqat Azim, partner, ISG Digital Strategy and Solutions, who will lead the June 8 discussion. “Aligning stakeholders and leadership, creating strong implementation, governance, testing and release strategies, and proactively managing organizational change and communication will help mitigate risks, provide transparency and increase accountability at all levels.”

People risks also are inherent in the move to SAP S/4 HANA, say members of the ISG organizational change management (OCM) team that will host “Accelerating Your Move to SAP S/4HANA” on Thursday, June 24, at 11 a.m., U.S. Eastern Time. The ISG experts will offer practical steps to pave the way to success and realize faster return on investment.

“Thousands of companies need to upgrade their enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to SAP S/4HANA over the next few years, but most are not fully prepared,” said Randy Geoghagan, partner, ISG Organizational Change Management. “Companies need a comprehensive strategy that mitigates the transformational risk of moving to a cloud-first environment and lays the groundwork for new interactions between IT and the business. Successful OCM programs save money, increase productivity, reduce errors, and keep employee engagement and morale high throughout a digital transformation.”

Registration for each ISG Smartalks webinar is available on the webinars page of the ISG website. In addition to the live streams, content will be available for viewing and download after each event.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.

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