Selecting new technology for your business through a structured technology procurement process can be a daunting task, particularly when that technology serves business-critical functions and becomes the single source of truth for your data.
Key Considerations in the Technology Procurement Process
If you have decided to look externally for a partner who can provide and / or build what you need, rather than develop something in-house, there are more trade-offs to consider:
- Procure multiple platforms and integrate them, or choose the best all-rounder?
- Customise a platform to your ways of working, or take something off-the-shelf and adapt your processes?
- Work with one of the bigger and more reputable players, or select a more niche vendor who knows your sector better?
- Speak to a couple of providers you already know, or run a thorough process and canvas the whole market which will take longer?
That’s not where the questions end. You also need to think about how much budget is available, which requirements are essential vs. nice-to-have, and how much your organisation’s future development and growth influence other needs further down the line.
As veterans of hundreds of technology procurement projects like this, we know a thing or two about how it’s done; one of the things we get asked most is, ‘what templates do I need?’
If you know anything about Nine Feet Tall, you’ll know that ‘just enough governance’ is a mantra we repeat over and over. And we don’t just say it, we live by it.
With technology selection procurement, that means ensuring that enough rigour has been applied to the selection process and that you are maximising your return on investment – but not enough to create indecision or slow project teams down. It’s easy to fall into the trap of never-ending documents that take months to complete (and that’s before you even begin to think about implementing and embedding the technology itself).
Whilst every project, platform and client is different, we thought it would be helpful for us to outline the common technology assessment templates that can keep you moving forward with your digital transformation journey.
Essential Teamplates for Technology Procurement
Requirements log
Clear briefs save time and money. If you are can clearly articulate what your needs are, you give yourself the best chance of finding a partner and a platform that is the perfect match. Avoid being prescriptive about everything you do right now – try to be open-minded and instead ask vendors to outline how they can meet a business need you have. You may be surprised to find there are more efficient or effective ways of doing things you’ve done a certain way for years.
Process maps
Whilst mapping out key existing business processes should not necessarily be shared in your brief (point 1), the exercise is still an essential one as it will enable you to uncover requirements that are assumed or missed. They also serve a valuable purpose when implementing the new technology later on – if you know what you do now, you can overlay how things will work in the future and what changes are required / where staff may need help adapting.
The brief
This is sometimes split into three – RFI (high-level needs issued to a longlist of vendors to determine who is interested), RFP (detailed list of your expectations and requirements issued to a shortlist of vendors who then respond with their proposals) and RFQ (revised costs after vendors have had the opportunity to probe further into your requirements). Sometimes these are combined into one document and what’s right for you depends on how rigorous you wish to be, which is usually determined by how business-critical the technology is, and how much you’ll be investing. Whatever you decide, laying out a clear summary of needs, guardrails for the process and expectations on how people present their products (and costs) to you will ensure you retain control of the process and satisfy your own procurement needs.
Evaluation criteria
Whilst selecting a systems integration (SI) partner is not an exact science, developing a set of weighted evaluation criteria based on what matters most to you will enable you to assess the merits of each option. This shouldn’t be about the sheer technical competence of the partner – think about things like cultural fit, price and scalability too. Scoring is best done individually before coming together as a selection committee to discuss, debate and rank.
Business case
You know what you need, you have found a vendor who ticks (hopefully!) all of the boxes, you understand what it will take to deliver (cost and time). For most, you will then need to have executive teams sign-off the budget and resources – and this document is what will take those stakeholders through the story of what you want to do, why, how and when.
Sounds good but still in need of some guidance?
Investment of both capital and people to deliver the change is significant and it can be hard to know where to start. All whilst you’ve got the day job to be cracking on with.
If you’re approaching or are mid-way through a technology assessment or technology selection procurement process, and feeling the pinch, we are here to help. Find out more here and get in touch today!
