Ten months into my new role and I’m starting to really feel like my old self… working like a CIO to solve CIO’s problems.  This week all my experience (as Client, CIO, Consultant, and Vendor) came together in an opportunity to create a “win-win” for my customer.  In this opportunity, me, my company, my business partner and our client worked together to solve a CIO’s business problem, and in the process created a win-win far greater than any of us could have accomplished on our own. For a Client, the tendency may be to place “vendors” on the opposite side of the table during the sales process, but when you remove that table and work together as a team there’s almost nothing you cannot accomplish. I know… cue the violins and pass the Kool-Aid… this is starting to sound like a greeting card; but the fact is everyone wins when you partner with your partners. It may seem counterintuitive, but a Client’s negotiating power actually becomes  stronger when they are willing to disclose the real problem they are trying to solve.  Thanks to my client’s willingness to share their real objectives, and yes… their budgetary constraints — my extended team was able to pull together, make compromises and build a comprehensive offering that gave our customer the solution they needed at a price they could afford.  Win-win for everyone.