What's really behind a prospective vendor's door?
RFPs have been used for decades to select software and vendors. It's time to change. Technology and Capability Thinking® enables new, more efficient, and effective ways to evaluate and select vendors and realize more significant ROI on vendor partner decisions.
RFPs historically were used to gather information from a vendor. Decades ago, the Internet didn't exist, and vendors closely guarded their customer lists. There were only so many options for gathering vendor information to make an informed decision.
The Internet and AI provide extensive information on vendor marketplaces and products. The decisionmaker's dilemma has shifted from no information source, except the vendor, to information overload and clutter.
Use one of two vendor evaluation and selection approaches:
Learn more about the vendor evaluation and selection process -- Goals, gaffes to avoid, and other considerations.
Use an enhanced RFP approach to make a better vendor selection decision.
Capability teams operate agilely and directly through the trust they have earned with leaders, constituents, and partners, including Procurement.
Accelerate benefits using focused, cross-functional cooperation of business capability, operating, procurement, legal, finance, IT, and partner teams.
Interact directly with potential vendor partners. Avoid using intermediaries such as Procurement, which often consumes time, and paper-based mechanisms such as RFPs, which usually result in obfuscation.
Dialogue on contract matters begins immediately and runs parallel with assessing vendor options.
Why select a vendor and then begin negotiations? Negotiate during selection to optimize best and final offers (BAFOs).
Vital Strategy, Process, Relationship, Organization, Network, Technology, and Operation needs.
Establish Minimum Acceptable Vendor attributes, capabilities, and criteria to limit the number of vendors.
How is the solution agilely supported and evolved to enable changing business needs?
A vendor's service depth and breadth to support and enhance your needs long-term are just as important.
Avoid getting bogged down on nonvalue-added activities and details.
We collectively, to get things done, work together as a team. Because the work really happens horizontally in our company, not vertically. Products are horizontal. It takes hardware plus software plus services to make a killer product. -- Tim Cook