Turbocharge your vendor software selection decision and ROI

What's really behind a prospective vendor's door?

Increase the Performance and Value of Your Vendor Investments

Use an in-depth partnering approach, enabled by interactive dialogue and parallel workstreams, to evaluate and select vendor software agilely.

Optimize Your Vendor Software Decision

Two Approaches to Vendor Software Selection

Traditionally, Request for Proposals (RFPs) were the primary method for gathering vendor information. Decades ago, the Internet didn't exist, and vendors closely guarded their customer lists. RFPs were the primary option for gathering vendor information to make an informed decision.

Today, with abundant online and AI-driven resources, decision-makers face a different challenge: information overload rather than scarcity.

To navigate this complexity, consider one of two vendor selection approaches:

Enhanced RFP

A structured, stage-gated approach using procurement teams as intermediaries between organizations and vendors. Early diligence focuses on software requirements, with a linear evaluation process leading to a final vendor recommendation.

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Just in Time Decision Evaluation (JITDE™)

A collaborative, adaptive selection process that prioritizes interactive dialogue, minimizes paperwork, and accelerates decisions through ongoing research and networking.

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Early Diligence: Prioritizing vital needs over trivial ones and engaging vendors and peer organizations early.
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80/20 Thinking: Leveraging Pareto’s Law to focus on the most impactful features, vendor capabilities, and key user adoption.
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Vendor Summits: Intensive, three-day onsite evaluations to assess vendors via interviews, demonstrations, and contract negotiations.

A Deeper Look at JITDE™ Enablers

Early Diligence

JITDE™, also known as the Brief-Based Approach, starts with in-depth diligence focusing on core needs, minimum vendor requirements, and direct vendor engagement.

This filtering method ensures only the most viable vendors receive an RFP or Brief (a streamlined RFP), saving significant time in evaluation and selection.

80/20 Thinking

Based on the Pareto Principle, JITDE™ applies 80/20 thinking to vendor selection:

Vendor Capability: 80% of software functions are similar across vendors, only 20% differentiate.
Feature Utilization: Focus on the 20% of features that deliver 80% of desired outcomes.
User Adoption & Training: Prioritize training for 20% of users who will drive 80% of adoption.
Avoid Over-Purchasing: Choose software that aligns with your core requirements rather than opting for feature-heavy options you might not use.

Vendor Summits

JITDE™ accelerates selection through an intensive three-day vendor summit, refining final choices to three or fewer vendors.
Key summit activities include: 🔹 Vendor Interviews 🔹 Live Software Demonstrations 🔹 Leadership Discussions 🔹 Contract Negotiations Parallel workstreams, led by cross-functional teams, ensure efficient decision-making.

Vendor Interviews
Live Software Demonstrations
Leadership Discussions
Contract Negotiations

Parallel workstreams, led by cross-functional teams, ensure efficient decision-making.

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Comparing Vendor Evaluation Approaches

Feature	Enhanced RFP	Modern JITDE™
Duration	8+ months	3 months
Process	Linear, stage-gated, paper-based	Nonlinear, concurrent, interactive dialogue, experience-based
Transparency	Share equally with all vendors throughout the RFP response to maintain a level playing field	Share equally at the beginning and allow vendors to differentiate themselves
Vendor Pool	Many vendors	Up to three vendors
Diligence Focus	Software requirements, many trivial needs	Early in-depth diligence, the vital few, and differentiating capability needs
Driving Force	Procurement-driven, sales-focused	Business-driven, business outcome-focused
Dialogue	Back-end loaded, enables obfuscation	Front-end loaded, enables clarity
Key Activities	RFP, Demos, Site Visits	Vendor Summits, 80/20 Thinking, Early Diligence
Culture	Rigid change	Flexible and adaptive
Thinking	Inside-out	Outside-in; Inside-out
Emphasis	Proposal scoring	Partner dialogue experience and scoring