Meet Senior Manager Niels
Niels Vegter has been part of Eraneos for over 15 years. “I mainly focus on sourcing projects, such as European tenders or those for private companies, as well as sourcing strategies, negotiations, and everything related to it,” Niels explains, “Often in a lead role, where I am both a subject matter expert and project manager.” Within the team, he is one of the people who delivers the large, complex sourcing projects.
Niels is currently working on a project with a team of 8 colleagues from Eraneos. As the project lead, he oversees the entire project, while other team members focus on specific sub-projects. “Our client benefits greatly from our collaborative approach,” Niels explains. “In complex organizations, a larger project team is essential to drive significant change. By having team members embedded in different parts of the organization, we can develop a more effective strategy and achieve better results.”
Starting from scratch
“Our client is a public procurement entity,” Niels states, “When certain IT contracts expire, they’re legally obligated to tender their contracts on the European market, provided they exceed a certain value. This gives other parties the opportunity to bid for these contracts”. The exact procedures for this are legally defined. Eraneos is helping the client to by developing a comprehensive IT strategy. “We’re looking at the bigger picture,” Niels says, “considering questions like ‘How can we design the IT landscape for the next 10-15 years?’ and ‘Which services should we market in order to secure new contracts?’”.
“Our work is a bit like First Dates: we pair the right supplier with the right client, hoping they’ll hit it off and have a successful partnership.”
Creating a sourcing strategy
“First, we needed to develop a sourcing strategy,” Niels explains. “This is a relatively short-term project where we analyze the client’s current IT services and assess their future needs based on their IT strategy and sourcing objectives. The strategy that my two Eraneos colleagues and I developed is significantly different from the one currently in place.” Today’s organization is vastly different from what it was 10 years ago, when they last developed a sourcing strategy, “so they’ve been working with the same contracts for quite some time.” Over the years, the organization has become more modern and has different IT service needs. The supplier market has also changed dramatically. “As a result, the current situation no longer fits. We’ve been exploring what does fit for now and the future.”
Implementation
Niels and his team are now in the implementation phase of the sourcing strategy. “We are currently running multiple tendering projects simultaneously, each with a different team member,” Niels mentions, “These are essentially sub-projects carried out by various Sourcing & IT Advisory colleagues, all of which I coordinate”. We strive for consistency across these projects, using similar approaches and structures. “However, the specific tasks vary depending on the project stage,” Niels explains, “One colleague might be conducting market research, while another is evaluating proposals or preparing for contract negotiations. This dynamic nature keeps the work interesting and challenging”.
“We’ve established a core team for all sub-projects, including client representatives, to facilitate coordination and knowledge sharing. This ensures consistency in our approach and helps us address any challenges that arise.” Project managers report any bottlenecks directly to Niels, who then discusses them with the client.
Each individual sub-project has its own rhythm, but there’s also an overarching cadence. “We meet with our client colleagues at least twice a week,” Niels tells “We also have meetings with just Eraneos colleagues to discuss challenges and catch up”.
Collaboration
“I really enjoy working with our team,” Niels smiles. “We can communicate very quickly because we know exactly what someone means. We’ve all worked on various projects, so we have a broad frame of reference.” Everyone on the team is always willing to help each other out. “We couldn’t do these projects without the Eraneos colleagues we have: because of who they are, their personalities, and the knowledge and experience they bring,” Niels affirms. “These are intensive, long-term projects, so it’s important to have a good working relationship. Of course, we also make time for fun, and we’re going out for dinner soon.”
Impactful results
The tangible results of this project are the moments when a contract is signed with a supplier for a specific component, together with the client. “A less tangible result we aim to achieve is for the client’s employees we’ve worked with to feel ownership of their deal and be happy with it,” Niels says, “It’s great to see the client excited about the supplier they end up with. The evaluation model you set at the beginning cannot be changed during the process,” Niels explains, “and it’s rewarding when they’re delighted by the unexpected benefits the supplier offers.”