Like death, taxes and network downtime, bad contracts are a fact of life for most IT leaders. Deals that once seemed fair and equitable can sour over time for various reasons, such as the availability of a better or lower-cost technology or a vendor’s reluctance to live up to contract requirements.
“Most often, there’s a resolution—if you want to find one,” says P. Tracy Currie, who is CEO of business consulting firm Capto and has successfully negotiated — and renegotiated — contracts for numerous Fortune 500 IT organizations. Currie suggests moving to mitigate the damage as quickly as possible. “As mom always said, ‘Pull the Band-Aid off quickly.'”