How To Choose The Right Vendor For Your Business

From the initial sales pitch through contract negotiations, implementation and post-implementation support, each vendor provides a unique experience. Even if their product is similar to their competitors’, each vendor will have different structures, processes and styles at every touchpoint.

Consequently, it will be of no surprise that in addition to understanding how a product works, it’s just as important to understand how vendors will work with you.

You may be wondering, isn’t it the objective of the procurement process to learn about a vendor in this way? This is true. Conducting a procurement process and listing your business requirements in a document, such as an RFP, is a highly effective way to ensure that a vendor is right for your organization.

However, a gap can remain between what has been stated in an RFP and what a vendor can really deliver. Therefore, having a grounded understanding of a vendor’s reputation based on previous experience can help provide a much richer engagement throughout the full project lifecycle.

At StableLogic, we are working with market leading vendors on a continual basis, and what’s more we are working throughout all stages of an engagement lifecycle – from procurement to ongoing support.

This helps us provide you with knowledge on:

– Vendor Selection – Is the vendor profile aligned to your requirements? Is what has been answered in the RFP backed up by previous experience? What are other customers saying?

– Contract Negotiation – What items are worth pushing on and which do we know are unlikely to budge? What vendor weaknesses can be mitigated by ensuring legal obligations are built into the contract?

– Professional Services – What are the lessons learned from previous roll outs? What needs to be built into the SOW for a particular vendor? What strengths does the vendor have that should be given special focus?

– Ongoing Support – What are other customer’s experiences with support? What can be introduced to improve the level of support?

For more information on StableLogic’s project management services, please click here. If you want to speak directly to one of our consultants, you can email info@stablelogic.com or call +44(0)20 3861 6444.