Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
Selecting software is more than just about the software and hardware. A vendor's service breadth and depth to support and enhance your needs long-term are just as important.
While two guys in a garage may be helpful when innovating to create a new industry or product, they are not the right choice when selecting critical software to run your business.
Vendor stability, capabilities, and market positioning are vital when choosing a software solution.
Decide on a vendor solution that includes:
I've engaged in 300+ RFP projects. Two primary observations include:
A software package, aka Commercial Off-the-Shelf Software or COTS, is a ready-made computer program or collection of related programs developed by a software vendor.
Tens of thousands of high-quality commercial software packages and services are available today.
A sound business process is critical to optimize your vendor partner decision regardless of the selection approach.
Consider buying, rather than custom developing, software for the following reasons:
Don't get lulled into a false sense of security. Buying software isn't a panacea, and it isn't for every organization and application.
Apply discretion when deciding what capabilities to enable using commercially available software.
Capabilities that differentiate your organization in the marketplace may require custom software.
Maintain awareness of the communication challenges between your organization and potential software vendors. Your organization doesn't understand how a vendor software system works, and the vendor doesn't understand how your business works. That's a significant gap to overcome.
Communicating via a Request for Proposal (RFP) with your procurement department as the intermediary further impedes communication quality and understanding.
During implementation, the realization surfaces that the software vendor selected can't support your essential needs, ultimately dooming or diminishing a successful business outcome.
Sometimes, organizations request too many desirable requirements, buying and paying for more than they need.
Focus your requirements on the vital few that enable your business case.
No, that isn't a misspelling. It represents when too much flexibility creates complexity.
Commercially available software is architected with powerful configuration capabilities.
Buying application software is essentially buying a business process. Don't buy if you're not willing to commit to the business process and associated integration you're buying.
Buying, implementing, and sustaining software is a significant and strategic organizational investment. Establish a strong partnership with your software vendor.
Adopt partnerial thinking to:
A vendor may promote using its software to satisfy a use case for which it wasn't explicitly developed. They will emphasize the "commonalities" and the "minor" changes required to enable the solution to satisfy your needs. Please don't believe it!
People bring all sorts of biases to the decision-making table. Prior experiences, favoritism, personalities, etc., can enter a decision process.
Minimize bias by establishing a rigorous and quantitative scoring methodology. Score and quantify vendor proposals and solutions to the extent possible.
Source your core evaluation team with objective and independent-thinking people.
Don't consider vendor software a solution if you're unwilling to entertain changing your business processes.
Viable vendor software solutions are highly configurable to meet most business process needs. However, you must be flexible and open-minded to change your business process to leverage vendor software solutions.
Vendor decisions are about more than selecting a vendor.
It's more than just about vendor capabilities. Does your organization have the requisite abilities to leverage what the vendor brings to the table?
That question leads to Capability Thinking®. At a minimum, your organization needs requisite skills, methods, and experience in the following areas to leverage the vendor relationship fully:
A vendor I'm familiar with uses the tagline "Complex things can be so easy ...."
That tagline also applies to the RFP process. Organizations make it more complicated by attempting to communicate using only paper and their Procurement team. Simplify the process by directly interacting, talking, and listening to each vendor: document crucial discussions, expectations, conclusions, and decisions.
Take inventory of your organization's current solution assets and partner relationships. Many organizations initiate a vendor selection process prematurely before considering other options.
Take stock of existing partner relationships first before considering new partner options in the following sequence:
Vendor project managers act more as project administrators than project managers. They administer a vendor's deliverables, schedule meetings, and facilitate communication within the vendor's organization. They represent the vendor's interests, not yours. Your organization must assign a project manager to effectively and efficiently manage the implementation project.
A vendor's solution architect, a product specialist, understands how the vendor's system works. They are valuable for helping you understand the vendor's solution during evaluation. They also offer detailed insight and assistance during implementation.