Inducements and Enforcements

The Carrot
If you work for a powerful company with partners that absolutelydepend on your relationship, like Visa, you have the power to makedemands. Unfortunately, most companies don't fit into that category.Instead, they must come up with carrots to entice partners to agree totheir terms and incorporate them into contracts.

For example, if your partner objects to security requirements becauseof cost, offer to share some of the cost. A partner "might balk at anextra few hundred dollars to pay for the setup of an extra server,"says Calaceto. "In some cases we'll absorb it because we want a moresecure system."

Or you can offer to include your partners in your security softwarelicensing agreements to save them a few bucks, says Le Grand. HereBedard advocates a "matching fund," where a company offers to kick ina dollar for every dollar its partner spends complying with therequirements.

Finally, Gaffney suggests offering discounts or preferred-sellerstatus to partners that accept your requirements. "If a companyassociates economic value [with its requirements], it needs to be partof the negotiation," he says.