RFP Services | IT Purchasing Consulting
When the time for change arises, middle market and small organizations are generally not equipped to fully vet enterprise software, financial software and general software applications. Evaluating and selecting new software has become increasingly difficult. Many systems look good on the surface but may not be the best option for a specific industry. Others may not provide flexibility for the future. Still others may be overkill for small and medium sized organizations. Vendor viability, software reliability, and ease of implementation must all be considered.
Beware of services like “Software Advise.” These services are paid lead websites for software vendors and are not independent or vendor agnostic.
You need a trusted partner that is vendor agnostic.
Choosing the right enterprise system requires an organized, independent approach: collecting operating data, building the business case, analyzing key requirements, screening vendors, and organizing demonstrations.
Your options are to engage vendors directly, use web consulting services, or hire a 3rd party project manager to administer the RFP. Without the assistance of a 3rd Party Project Management Team, narrowing the field of options can be daunting, resulting in a painful and time-consuming process. Unless you have the internal resources, managing your day-to-day operations will take precedent and result in scope creep, project lags and other related delays.
What we do:
We own the process.
Our Consultants focus on what differentiates your organization from others and what makes each software vendor unique. Collecting key data points enables us to build a comprehensive request for information to use in our initial vendor qualification.
Getting quickly to a short list.
Often, buyers mistakenly begin their software selection process by talking with vendors, which complicates and confuses the process. Our consultants shorten the list of candidate vendors in a three-step process that gets you to the best solution without taking up inordinate amounts of time and resources.
Evaluating implementation consultants as well as software vendors.
Too many software projects fail, not because the customer chooses the wrong system but because the implementation team is not qualified. Our vendor introduction and reference checking phases ensure that you not only have the right system, but the right system implementation consultants.
Discreet Services
In some cases, an organization’s identity may warrant anonymity. Our team can serve as a liaison and facilitator, allowing your company to remain completely anonymous. Our processes are tested and proven.
Scoping
Our subject matter experts work with your team to differentiate necessities from frills. We can also help determine where the software should reside – on premise, in the cloud or a hybrid. If moving to the cloud makes good business sense, our Cloud Brokerage service can help you obtain the best service at the best possible price.