When you have a lot of tech vendors, there’s bound to be some tension as they compete for your attention and do their work.

Instead of letting it get to the point where the relationships are unsalvageable, perhaps you should actually try to get your vendors communicating with one another. That’s the advice of Delcor’s Tobin Conley, who discusses the issues with vendor communication in a recent blog post.

He suggests that you get vendors talking to one another at the start of the the process, as well as doing something that associations know a lot about: holding a meeting.

“Once a year, as part of the budget cycle and technology planning process, invite vendors representing all mission-critical systems to a technology summit,” Conley explains. “Although you could host a virtual summit, it’s much better to have this conversation in person so people can look each other in the eye—don’t leave any room for ambiguous communication.”

Ultimately, approaching the vendor-communication process holistically will be better than playing a game of what Conley calls “Whac-A-Mole.”

Other Links of Note

Awesome idea of the day: The iOS keyboard app Slash, which combines a traditional mobile keyboard with built-in search functionality for a bevy of apps, could represent the future of writing on your phone.

For the Apple Watch owner in your life, the time machine just got an upgrade. The company released the second version of watchOS, and the changes are getting really good reviews.

Like learning and webinars? Then you may enjoy Tagoras’ latest offering, about selecting the right kind of learning management system (LMS) for your organization. You can check that out on Thursday.

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