Understanding both the perspective of the healthcare technology buyer and that of builders and sellers can give healthcare executives greater insight into vendor-customer dynamics and what goes into successful partnerships. Healthcare vendor-customer relationships can vary greatly: some are built on trust and some lack it; some succeed and some don’t; some meet expectations and some fall short. Following these best practices can help both parties to achieve their strategic goals, maximize success, minimize frustration and find true joy in their work. 

Watch out for the customer logo slide. Displaying the logos of well-known customers can be a misleading indicator of a vendor’s experience. For example, a company may put a prominent university medical center’s logo on their website even though only one physician in one part of the organizations actually used their software. A customer logo on a vendor website can signify an enterprise customer or simply one user conducting a small pilot. Clarification is key. Seek vendors with a track record of deploying and supporting software at enterprise scale across multiple large organizations. A single large-scale deployment may seem impressive but can indicate over-customization and a lack of scalable solutions.

Fall in love with the problem, not the solution. When selecting a vendor, you are not just purchasing a product; you’re seeking a solution for a specific issue. The specific needs and details of that solution will evolve, but starting with a mutual understanding of the customer’s problem and desired outcomes allows partners to weather these shifts. Otherwise, you may diverge in needs and priorities. A vendor may focus its resources on building in a different direction from the one the healthcare organization is hoping for. Vendors will create new features, new products and new services. The more vendors and customers can agree on problems and goals, the more likely their partnership is to be exciting and valuable.

Trust is the foundation of any successful partnership. Opt for partners whose values align with yours, which will allow you to establish a basis of trust. Trust may not seem to matter much when everything is going right. However, in case of challenges, or even a crisis, you want to look across the table at people and a company that you trust to work in your best interests and to problem-solve collaboratively with you.

Buy the partner, not just the product. Be careful not to view a purchase as simply transactional, like purchasing a widget. Products evolve, and so will your needs and strategies. While you want to make sure that your first project or implementation together is great, ensure that you and the vendor share a long-term vision. What is the company’s mission? What problems do they most want to solve? As time moves on, you will want a partner whose mission and target outcomes are compatible with yours so you can grow together. 

Buy the process; it’s a product, too. Ensure that your partner has a robust, proven and battle-tested methodology for deployment. In healthcare technology, implementation, change management and adoption are as critical as the software itself. Make sure you have partners with experience deploying at organizations like yours and that have talented deployment staff with the skills, experience and creativity to troubleshoot and problem-solve.

Agree on the pricing model, not just the price. Rather than simply looking at the dollar total on the proposed contract, you should understand the model behind the price. The best pricing models create win-win situations. As a healthcare organization derives value from software, the price is connected to that increased unit of value. This is preferable to pricing models that feel arbitrary or that create unrealistic incentives. Use pricing to incentivize outcomes that create a shared win for both parties.

Have a clear business case. Does the company have a clear and compelling business case? Better yet, do they understand the business case that you, as a buyer of health IT, will have to create internally to get buy-in from across your organization? This is a useful screening question for buyers: ask companies how they would advise you to build a business case for their technology for your CFO. Will the sales rep provide a well-thought-out answer or ignore the question and go back to talking about their software’s cool features? A company must understand the needs of its customers well enough to create ROI models, not just try to sell you exciting new features.

Workflow integration is non-negotiable. Too many healthcare technology companies naively believe that their software lives in a vacuum. Enterprise software never comes with a blank slate; enterprise users always have existing workflow tools and use multiple pieces of software throughout their day. It is, therefore, mandatory for healthcare IT companies to be aware of a healthcare organization’s existing vendors, architecture and user workflows, as well as the key data integrations required. Successful software must seamlessly integrate into users’ existing workflows, processes and information technology architecture.

Prioritize technological sustainability. Healthcare organizations tend to use their chosen technologies for many years. This means you need a technology stack that’s built to last, with an architecture that makes sense for your organization and capabilities that will grow and evolve with your organization.

In the ever-evolving healthcare technology landscape, success hinges on more than just transactional relationships. By prioritizing mutual understanding, shared values and technological sustainability, healthcare executives can forge genuine partnerships that drive innovation and improve patient outcomes. Navigating vendor-customer dynamics with clarity and a long-term vision fosters trust and creates a collaborative environment where both parties can thrive, ultimately transforming challenges into opportunities for growth and efficiency.