A successful software demonstration takes a great deal of preparation, a good script for the vendors to follow, a well-planned agenda and a designated demo facilitator that isn’t afraid to be the “bad cop!” The role of the demo facilitator can be just as critical to the demo process as the demo itself. Who should police the demo and what will they do?

The demo facilitator should be someone that is involved with the project but not a stakeholder in the outcome. In other words, this person should be knowledgeable about the project without the need to be mired in the details of the demonstration (generally a project manager). The facilitator should have the ability to speak up when needed, either to ask questions or to get the vendors back on topic or on time. The role of the demo facilitator includes:

• Being a liaison between the project manager and the vendors. The facilitator helps to keep the lines of communication open.
• Timekeeping. To ensure the vendors have enough time to get through all the items they need to demonstrate (and to make sure that the users are seeing enough of the product that they feel comfortable with what it can do), it’s important to keep a close eye on time. Often times, it’s necessary to limit questions in order to get through each section. In a long day (or couple of days) of demos, it’s very important for the vendors and the participants to get regular breaks.
• Note taking.The facilitator should be engaged enough to take notes paying special attention to items that are missed on the demo script.
• Asking questions. Sometimes it’s important to ask questions (when appropriate) to help stimulate questions from the user group.
• Helping the vendor to be successful. This simply means that you give the vendors every opportunity to represent their software fairly and in the best light possible. Hopefully you have armed the vendors with plenty of knowledge well before the demos begin; during the demos, their success is aided by reminding them of the expectations, helping them stay on task, providing ongoing feedback and being the “bad cop.”

Posted By: Cherish Cruz

The end of 2011 is fast approaching. We have really enjoyed working with our clients and have had the opportunity of working with many great companies and public entities to help them find good software solutions.

This year, we have worked with large and small companies, government entities and non-profit groups. We have worked with clients that have spanned from Alaska to Hawaii to California to Florida to New York to Nova Scotia and even to the UK and Austria. We have had a lot of fun along the way as we work with each client to help them find the unique solutions that are right for them. Here are some parting observations for 2011:

• Many companies are still running Excel spreadsheets outside of their financial and operational software putting companies at risk for errors, fraud, and security breaches.
• More companies are looking for software compatibility with smartphone, ipad, and other personal mobile devices.
• The Cloud hype has reached a fever pitch and is finally starting to see some acceptance outside of Human Resources, CRM, and Projects and with mid-market to larger companies.
• ERP cloud vendors are still functionally immature as compared to their on-premises competitors.
• On-premises vendors are moving as quickly as they can to offer cloud solutions.
• There is continued software vendor acquisition activity (ie. Lawson acquired by Infor) but new vendors (like Workday) are popping up offering new solutions and gaining market share.

We wish you all a happy and safe holiday season, and look forward to serving you in 2012!

Posted By: Spencer Arnesen

Recently, we have been doing a number of multi-national software selection projects for companies with operations in the US and Europe. This type of environment poses some unique challenges and considerations in the software selection and implementation process – not the least of which are the time zone and cultural challenges inherent with operating in a multi-national environment. Here are some things to consider if you are looking at a multi-national software selection and implementation.

• Make sure that the project team has representatives from each country as well as each area of functionality.
• Make sure there is a base of operation where the demos will be held. We have done them in multiple locations at once via web demonstrations, but it is better to have everyone together so a decision can be made together as a team.
• A multi-national environment is a good candidate for hosted or cloud solutions so you may wish to consider these types of solutions.
• Focus on software vendors that are multi-national in nature and can handle the accounting and reporting requirements in a multi-country environment.
• Make sure to take into account localization (languages, multi-currency, etc.) for each country that you will be implementing.
• Make sure the implementation partner you select has resources they can provide for each of the locations and countries that you plan to implement.
   

Posted By: Spencer Arnesen

Have you ever played the telephone game? In this game everyone sits in a line and someone whispers a phrase or sentence into a person’s ear and that person passes the information to the next in line and so on until at the end of the line, the message is so convoluted it has no relation to the original phrase. All of this because of miscommunication as information is passed between people.

Many organizations go through an RFP or RFI process as they evaluate software solutions. They put together requirements, send the RFP out to interested vendors, receive the responses, score the responses, and notify the winners they are on the short list. Many times RFP requirements forbid any contact with vendors during the RFP review process.

But just as miscommunication can happen in the telephone game, it can also happen in the RFP process. This approach relies on the vendor properly understanding the requirements, the vendor being honest and forthright in their response, and for the evaluator - a clear understanding of the RFP response and the vendor’s intention in writing the response. The danger is that somewhere along the line either you or the vendor may misunderstand something and you may end up including or eliminating a vendor inappropriately.

Over the past 16 years and 650+ software evaluation projects, we have found that it is actually better to have increased contact with the software vendor during the RFP/RFI response period, and not less contact. You need to talk with the software vendors in order to get clarification on their responses and drill down into additional questions that do not always appear in their official response. Here are 3 examples where we found this to be helpful in recent software selection projects.

• We recently worked with a global company with operations in Europe and China. They needed a global solution with the initial implementation in Europe. We evaluated a vendor that had a global solution and could fulfill the requirements. But after further discussion with the vendor, we found that 95% of their employees are in the US, which meant that they were really focused on US based companies that have some overseas operations and other solutions would be a better fit for this client.
• We worked with a media customer considering Value Added Reseller (VAR) options for one of the software vendors. We were looking for media experience and a VAR said they had multiple installations in media, however, their experience was more in the movie production arena rather than media broadcasting which is a totally different business.
• Finally, we had some particular general ledger requirements for a client that the software vendor responded with a “no.” But after further discussion with what the client was looking to do, we found their approach would work just fine, so we were able to turn that “no” answer to a “yes.”

The bottom line is that as you go through the vendor research stage of the project, you should increase the communication with the software vendors so that you can have a better understanding of the software solution's fit to your requirements and avoid miscommunication. The more information you have to help you make that decision, the better!

Posted By: Spencer Arnesen

Business must be picking up for software vendors because they are actually turning down RFPs! I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Just 18 months ago vendors were calling us wondering if we had any leads that they might be a fit for and now, those same vendors are turning down opportunities in favor of those that they have been pre-qualified to go after. What does this mean?

Simply put, most mid-market vendors actually like a pre-qualification screening with a potential client. Here are some of the reasons why:

• It cuts down significantly on the cost of the sale. Did you know that a vendor can spend as much as $100,000 in time, resources, travel, etc. just to close a sale? If you think about how many leads they are pursuing in a year, that adds up to big dollars! Saving a vendor those big dollars in the sales process could have an impact on savings for your contract.
• The vendor likes the opportunity to get to know your company. Cultural match is a major factor in the success of a new system. It makes sense that the client and vendor want to know if they are compatible. This also helps to eliminate “gotchas” for both the vendor and the client. “Gotchas” are those pesky little requirements that are forgotten in the bigger picture during the selection process.
• When the vendor believes they have a chance of success, they work harder to exceed expectations. This is true in all aspects of service, if a company believes they can earn your business with great customer service, they generally will work harder to provide that service.

You might be wondering, “What does a vendor pre-qualification entail?” That’s a great question – and could be answered in several different ways depending on your organization. Let’s take, for example, a manufacturing company. In most cases, there are not a lot of stringent rules regulating software selection. That means the company can create requirements documents, interview vendors, read vendor literature and case studies, request web demos, talk to current and former clients, etc. before any formal request for software purchase is made. This allows companies to talk to many vendors and narrow the field before the formal software evaluation process. It also allows vendors to determine if this is a good opportunity to pursue.

On the other hand, a municipality or government agency may have some very strict regulations about how the vendors are engaged, notified of the opportunity, etc. In those cases, it is very important to structure the RFP in such a way that the vendors understand the needs of the organization, the struggles with the current system, and have a good foundation of requirements in which to base a decision to participate. We find that being very clear about the expectations up front helps the vendors make good choices about responding.

If you take the time to do some initial research, have some initial discussion, and pre-qualify vendors, you are more likely to identify vendors that are a good fit and are willing to respond to your software selection process. In the long run, everyone ends up saving time and money in the process.
 

Posted By: Cherish Cruz