Overview
Introducing A New Way of Thinking About and Delivering Contracts Management
James River specializes in delivering value to businesses through contracts. Specifically, we provide professional services for the development, negotiation, management and resolution of contracts for selling or procuring:
- Information Technology (IT) products and services with an emphasis on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, managed hosting services, IT Outsourcing (ITO), and contract and license standardization including e-Contracts
- Non-IT business services with an emphasis on Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), professional services and services commoditization
- Government contracts with an emphasis on long term, complex services contracts and Performance Based Acquisition management.
We provide professional services for the entire contract lifecycle. We develop and implement standard contracts and processes and implement contracting operations maturity modeling, develop electronic contracting processes, conduct competitive procurements, negotiate contracts and develop pre-negotiation strategies, manage contracts and measure contract performance, audit contracts, and augment existing legal and contracts management staff.
Our new ways of thinking about IT and non-IT business contracting enable our clients to conduct their own businesses with 1) better project and risk management, 2) greater value creation, 3) closer alignment with business goals, and 4) greater contract management competency at a lower cost. Contracts are essential to conducting any business. Yet many businesses have never considered how contracts management can give them a competitive edge, or how contracts can add to their bottom line, or how contracts can help them do more with less operating expense. Contracts can even work as virtual acquisitions of other companies.
Delivering On Demand, Flexible Services with Value and Performance Based Pricing
We work on an hourly, monthly retainer, or fixed price project basis, as little or as much as our clients need. Our hourly rates are value based, meaning that they are determined by the value of the service to the customer. Retainers, paid in advance, are blocks of hours at discounted and blended rates, and also benefit clients by creating a more closely aligned business relationship. Fixed price projects are highly defined to ensure that clients’ expectations for both price and services are met. Wherever possible, a percentage of our project fee is based on achieving performance goals.
Like many legal and professional services made up of networks of independent professionals that have evolved in the past several years, our business model is low overhead and takes advantage of modern document sharing and teleconferencing and video conferencing technology. We deliver services at a superior value proposition to existing contracts management resources available on the market by stripping away overhead expenses and leaving only the value added expertise and flexibility.
We work as full time personnel on short term projects, part time on a long term basis, or as temporary staff. We can join companies as a consultancy, as 1099 independent contractors, and as “business card” members of the client organization.
We work remotely or on site depending on the geographic location, the client’s business needs and the client’s cost and return on investment from paying travel expenses.
James River's Value Comparison to
Competing Contract Management Consulting Models
Serving Outside Sales or Corporate Procurement, Fortune 500 Corporations or Small-to-Medium Size Businesses
Our clients include either service providers on the sales side of a transaction, or customers on the purchasing side of a transaction. If there is any appearance of a conflict of interest due to past representations — which rarely happens — we will tell our client immediately. Working both sides of the transaction enriches all of our service offerings and is consistent with our overall value-oriented and strategic approach to contracting. We can represent our clients to 3rd parties and clients can outsource their contracting operations to us. Or we can support and empower clients to build their own contracting competency. Confidentiality and trust are sacred in all of our client relationships. We work with C-level executives, corporate legal departments, sales offices, procurement managers, project managers, and financial and accounting personnel.
Bringing Advanced Specialization and Innovation to a Long Overlooked Profession
IT Agreements. James River's On-Demand Services SLA (MODS SLA) breaks SLAs out of the “99.9% uptime and credits” mold, creating competitive advantages for provides and value engines for services customers. Our Software-as-a-Disaggregation (SaaD)™ analysis of SaaS development, marketing and delivery platforms addresses dysfunction among associated service providers delivering a final service product to customers.
Non-IT Business Services and Outsourcing Agreements. Our approach to outsourcing and long,complex services engagements starts by understanding all stages of the contract life cycle and the dynamics that take place in each stage. James River employs Purpose Driven Outsourcing™ and Purpose Driven Governance™ methodologies to reduce transaction costs, bring services delivery under control, and actively work towards strategic goals.
Table Comparison Showing Transition
from Software to SaaS/Cloud Computing
James River's Purpose Driven View of Outsourcing Practices
Business SLAs. James River specializes in SLAs in both the on demand and business-to-business (B2B) services industries. Our Linked SLA Hierarchy (Link-Hier) model, part of our Outcome Centered Performance Management (OCPM) methodology, bridges the void between common technical service level metrics and the measurement of business outcomes that customers need to know. Technical and operations performance and output data is translated into business SLAs by through subject matter expertise and logically linking metrics at each level.
e-Contracts. We understand the potential for on line business services contracts goes well beyond click “I Accept.” Webtracting is an approach that realizes the benefits of Web based contracts in the sales cycle beginning with contract assembly and culminating in contract presentation to the customer. Customers meta negotiation, master ordering agreements and multi-jurisdictional issues are also addressed.
Government Contracts. James River specializes in extending Performance Based Acquisition best practices, both in acquisition planning on the Government side and in prime and sub contract management on the contractor side, and in the use of commercial software and services contract terms.
Standard Contract Libraries. Sales operations reduce sales cycle times, minimize transaction costs of negotiation, and increase revenue making potential by following James River’s Organic Contract Development (OCD) and Sales Playbook methodologies. Sales people take the lead in negotiations and smooth the closing process by providing customers clear choices and explanations for contract terms.
BPE/BPI and Maturity Modeling. Because many companies consider their contracting to be highly confidential, assessing existing contracting operations using models like the Contract Management Maturity Model (CMMM), the e-Services Capability Model (eSCM), and others.
Contract Auditing. While enterprise contract management (ECM) systems capture expirations dates, milestones, invoice approvals, spend levels, and other nominal data, James River’s Contract Auditing Process analyzes contract files at 5 levels including risks, value opportunities, compliance, and factors shaping future bargaining.
What Makes James River Different
Value Goal Oriented. So much of what business transactions are supposed to be never gets included in the contract. The essence of what made the deal valuable to the parties vanishes. Risk allocation and opportunities to create new value through business relationships go completely overlooked. Often the reasons for failing to capture business value are very fixable problems. For example, most negotiations start without any thought given to how they might be structured. Discussions diverge into independent business, technical and legal work streams. Soon everyone is no longer thinking intelligently, they are too stressed out just trying to get a contract signed. James River helps companies to identify and articulate all of the business value, risks and opportunities of a transaction, then capture it all in the final contract document.
Real World Grounded. Our services are taken from actually working in B2B and IT transactions. They are not elaborate and abstract ideas that came out of a graduate school research tank or licensed copies of the latest hot business book, though we do embrace good ideas when we hear them, regardless of the source. Take outsourcing. Many management consultants start from the top down, selling customers on expensive joint governance methods regardless of what is being outsourced or why, when in reality all that is needed is a well written statement of work for a project. Our business model is not dependent on high dollar, long term consulting jobs with a big ramp up.
Forward Looking. One day in the not too distant future, all businesses, regardless of size, will outsource many of their core and operations functions. A large percentage of B2B services contracts will be completed and signed online. The “High Noon” negotiation style of past years will be replaced by collaborations. Computing services will be sold through highly complex models incorporating licensed software and cloud computing on networks spanning the globe. James River is already positioned to move both providers and customers to virtual business models, cloud computing, electronic contracting and collaborative business relationships.