This insightful case study from SageCircle talks about how a vendor almost missed out on a $35M deal because it was left off an RFP shortlist. Although the case study is geared toward software vendors—focusing on the importance of an active analyst relations team—it also illustrates important points applying to software selection projects. The case study is in some ways a cautionary tale for organizations engaging an analyst firm’s guidance in a software selection. Read the rest of this entry »

TEC analyst, Kurt Chen, recently completed work on a new research segment covering product lifecycle management (PLM) selection criteria for the fashion industry.

Soon we’ll announce the launch of fashion and retail industry-specific models in our online PLM Evaluation Center. However, I’d like to point out that as of today you can purchase a template of the functional criteria companies in textile and fashion industries frequently need in order to develop an RFP for a PLM system. Read the rest of this entry »

Part 1 of this blog series introduced common supply chain challenges and resulting spend management opportunities for companies of all sizes. The article then went into the philosophical and functional differences (if any) between the “spend management” and “supplier relationship management (SRM)” monikers. Further discussion was about what exact functional parts of this software category small and medium enterprises (SMEs) might need.

The real question should always be, “Do we manage spending and, if so, what solutions do we use to do it?” To my mind, sourcing, procurement, and spend analysis capabilities cover most of the spend control needs for midsized enterprises. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re currently involved with your company’s software selection and implementation project, then I’m sure you can appreciate how difficult this process is. From figuring out what you want your new system to accomplish, to “go-live”—and everything in between—enterprise software selection is no easy feat. In fact, it can be downright grueling.

To start your software selection project off on the right foot, you must first define all of your current business processes—and then document them. This task alone can take months. However, with the right methodology and tools, the time spent doing this can be cut down significantly. If you are using your own methods for gathering requirements, your list of business processes must be structured in such a way that allows vendors to easily apply them to their products and determine whether they can support certain functionalities.

Again, no easy feat!

Many organizations often start a software selection by first choosing a vendor and then working in tandem with the vendor throughout the process of identifying and modeling their business processes on software capabilities. This is all fine and dandy—but who knows your business better than the people who perform these processes day in and day out? You, your department managers, and IT staff. Why put the onus on the vendor to perform this task and then risk not being certain that everything your new system may need has been identified? Not to mention the cost this type of vendor service could carry!

So what’s a software selection project manager to do?

Let’s take a look at how you can build a comprehensive request for information (RFI) by first reviewing the basics principles of business process modeling (BPM) and how it correlates to the RFI. Read the rest of this entry »

So you’re well on your way in terms of deploying the enterprise software. With great care and diligent planning you have assembled your team and despite your best efforts in securing resources and communicating schedules and responsibilities your Project Schedule is falling behind. You wonder if only I had selected the other vendor I wouldn’t have to be preparing this project update for first thing tomorrow morning.

Read the rest of this entry »