A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives: a curated forum reserved for leaders nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the Construction Tech Review Advisory Board.
City of San Diego
From Suppliers to Partners: How Ikano Bank Transformed Supplier Relationships to Drive Success
In today’s rapidly evolving landscape of digital transformation, technology often takes center stage. However, at Ikano Bank, we have learned that success is equally dependent on strong, trust-based partnerships with suppliers. These partnerships are not just transactional relationships but strategic collaborations that align with the bank's vision and values.
Previously, I shared Ikano Bank’s agile transformation journey and how fostering the right culture within our organization was essential to our success. This time, I want to focus on an equally critical dimension of our journey, the role of trust in transforming supplier relationships into true partnerships.
-
At Ikano Bank, trust-based supplier partnerships have proven vital to our transformation journey. By embedding shared values, transparent communication, and strong governance, we achieved cost savings, improved scalability, and turned external vendors into true strategic collaborators
Building Trust as a Strategic Capability
Developing a trusted partnership with suppliers is not a straightforward process—it requires time, effort, and a level of organizational maturity. Recognizing this, we began by designing a governance framework that positioned our employees as leaders, with a long-term vision of embedding Ikano’s culture into every aspect of supplier collaboration.
The governance model ensured that key leadership positions—such as product experts, technology specialists, process engineers and delivery managers—were filled by internal talent. This was further supported by a matrix organizational structure that divided responsibilities into two complementary streams:
1. The Line Organization: Dedicated to nurturing employee development and building internal capabilities.
2. The Delivery Organization: Focused on executing deliverables, staffed by employees from the Line Organization, alongside time-and-material consultants spread across geographies to enhance testing and development capacity.
This dual structure empowered us to maintain control over priorities, timelines, and scope while embedding Ikano Bank’s culture and ways of working into every team. Whether teams were composed of employees, consultants or a mix of the Ikano values provided a unifying framework for collaboration.
Taking a Leap: Transitioning to SingleSupplier Teams
As our internal capabilities matured and our ways of working became more refined, we saw an opportunity to transition from multivendor teams to single-supplier teams. Consolidating consulting volumes with trusted suppliers allowed us to simplify administrative processes, negotiate better pricing, and delegate operational responsibility—while still retaining strategic oversight through key roles held by our employees.
To test this approach, we initiated a proof of concept with two teams. Unsurprisingly, the idea initially faced resistance.
Change is rarely easy, and concerns about operational risks and unknowns surfaced. However, through open communication and transparency, we worked closely with employees and suppliers to overcome these challenges.
The Results: Trust as a Driver of Success
Six months into the proof of concept, the results exceeded expectations:
• Cost savings of approximately 25%.
• Consistent levels of output compared to the previous multivendor setup.
• Improved scalability, with the supplier managing fluctuations seamlessly.
This initiative validated our belief that consolidating to single-supplier teams could deliver substantial benefits without compromising on quality or output. More importantly, it underscored a critical insight: these transformations were only possible because of the foundation of trust and shared goals that we had cultivated with our suppliers.
Trust as a Strategic Asset
At Ikano Bank, we now recognize trust as a critical enabler of strategic success. It has a measurable impact on operational efficiency, cost management, and the ability to scale. By embedding our governance framework and culture into supplier relationships, we transformed external vendors into strategic partners who could grow and succeed alongside us.
As we continue to scale this model across more teams, one thing remains clear: a successful transformation is about more than technology. It requires strong, trust-based partnerships that are underpinned by shared values, transparent communication, and a collaborative mindset.
For CIOs and technology leaders, this journey highlights the importance of looking beyond tools and processes. Building a robust governance framework, empowering employees, and cultivating trust-based partnerships with suppliers can unlock extraordinary results.
What steps have you taken to strengthen trust and collaboration with your suppliers, and how has it impacted your organization’s ability to innovate and succeed?
