Contributed by David Barron – david.barron@knowledge-infusion.com, Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

In this installment, we will continue to investigate the six steps that I believe will lead companies to value in their software selections. The six steps are:

1.     Define Desired Business Outcomes

2.     Define the Decision Criteria

3.     Assess the Potential Providers

4.     Engage the Providers

5.     Conduct Software Demonstrations

6.     Selection

Fourth step – Engage the Providers

Once you have your finalists, you are ready to contact the vendors. I always make personal contact with all the providers for two reasons: one, to explain to the ones who didn’t make the cut the reasons why (remember that every deal is a big deal to a sales representative) and reiterate the remainder of the process for the ones who did make the cut.

Up to this point, the details of any upcoming activities with the providers have probably been limited. Now is the time to share everything about the process with the finalists. (Remember, providers will always prefer to get engaged in a potential deal as early as possible. Try to time the creation of your business process scenarios to coincide with the determination of provider finalists.) The typical items that should be ready to share are: the RFI including the scenarios, the project timeline including detailed demonstration dates and expected contract signing dates, any supporting documentation (performance review forms, compensation plans, competency definitions, etc), and any details necessary about the procurement process.

Be prepared to schedule time with each provider to answer questions about the RFI and the scenarios. This will be a good test for you: if you can answer the questions and the scenarios stand up to provider scrutiny, then you have done a good job in creating them.

Let the providers know that you are “an open book” on two fronts: one, you are open to questions throughout the evaluation and two, you will be honest with the negative/down side of the current environment. Those two things will ensure the providers can actually add value to your organization.

You are now engaged and moving toward product demonstrations. We’ll cover that in the next installment.

Next Installment – Conduct Software Demonstrations