Frequently Blake Newport is called in to provide:

• Transitional Services to our clients for the period immediately preceding and following the signature of a contract
• Transformational Services where a deal has been renegotiated and there is a need to manage the contract and the new deliverables that are due as part of a transformation offering as well as ensuring that the commitments are met for the ongoing “Business As Usual” services which are to be provided until the end of the Transformation.

Transitional Services

In addition to our pre-contract capabilities we assist a large number of our clients with the handover from a bid team to the delivery team on new business and also on significant contract changes. Typically one to two months before a deal is signed a small Blake Newport team will be co-located within our client’s bid team. Our role does not extend to the bid itself, but rather we start to collate the following aspects from the draft contract at that stage:

• Obligations and deliverables of both parties
• Deliverables due in the first 90 days of the contract
• Important client information
• Revenue Chargeable items
• Risks and Risk Mitigation
• Opportunities for growth
• Open issues.

By integrating with the bid team before the contract is signed and in advance of them moving to the next deal, we ensure that the key knowledge is retained in the organisation and captured in the handover documentation. There will be numerous obligations that require fulfilment in the first 30, 60 and 90 days and by having Blake Newport in place on the ground with an intimate knowledge of the deal from day one provides our clients with a real tangible benefit and advantage.

This ‘contract handover’ documentation can be manipulated to brief senior management at a high level and can also be used to provide a detailed briefing of the shape of the deal to the delivery teams and project managers.

A further use for the documentation can be in the guise of an obligations tracker which can be created from the handover document and used as an effective method of managing the current and immediate obligations for yourself and your trading partner; be they customer or supplier.

Transformational Services

Due to the current trend for contracts to be either extended at the end of their term or renegotiated part way through, more and more projects are having to manage the challenges of changing the way products and services are consumed whilst in tandem continuing to use and pay for the original services until this change is completed.

Blake Newport has significant experience in Transformation Management. From drafting and negotiating the requisite provisions of the contract to the day-to-day contract management of the arrangement. We understand that just because a new deal is signed it does not mean the services can immediately be provided in a different manner. We know that the project will not stop until Transformation is delivered. Some Transformation periods can be in excess of two years on complicated long-term arrangements.

Whilst ensuring that both Transformation and ‘Business As Usual’ services are aware of each-other’s progress, we know that the Transformation activity and section of the contract will more than likely be completely different in its requirements and deliverables to the original deal.

There will be milestone deliverables, possibly an increase in service levels and a decrease in price over the Transformation period. It is essential that a regular review of both parties’ deliverables is carried out as time is scarce.

Whether you are a supplier and need to protect your time and revenue entitlement or a end-user organisation that needs to ensure your suppliers remain on schedule and to budget, Blake Newport has the experience and capability to guide you through this complicated process when you will still be transacting with the same trading partner on a day-to-day basis in the provision of ‘Business As Usual’ services.