FIRESTONE TIRES JOBS

You would be amazed at how many vendors want your business. Start with a buyer's guide such as the one published on the CAmagazine web site which you can access from the menu on the left. You will notice in the buyer's guide that the vendors are split into Tiers. The largest companies are usually best served by Tier One and Tier Two vendors. Smaller companies are generally served better by the other vendors partly because of smaller investment, but also because of less complexity. Tier One products generally have a lot of flexibility but it takes more time to set-up, train and operate. There is typically more risk associated with vertical and custom vendors. However, the benefits could outweigh the potential risks. To obtain lists of potential vendors:

• use internet searches.

• contact your accountant. • contact colleagues.

1. • contact consultants. • contact industry associations.
2. • look at trade journals for articles and advertisements. • attend trade shows.
3. Find a good reseller.

The reseller or Value Added Reseller (VAR)/implementer can make a big difference. Often, companies selecting new systems spend a lot of time analyzing the product and the vendor but not enough time analyzing the capabilities of the VAR. The VAR could have been assigned by the vendor, and the VAR may not be the best choice. The vendors have a methodology for assigning leads to their partners/VARs that is not well-understood. You could be getting the next VAR on a list. Once a VAR is assigned, the vendors are reluctant to introduce another VAR, as it can lead to VARs competing with each other for the same prospect. So do some pre-screening of the VAR. Better yet, get the VAR's name from someone you know. Issue a Request for Proposal (RFP)

An RFP is a good tool to communicate your needs uniformly to vendors and to create a short list of vendors. Ask vendors to answer questions related to cost, technology, customer base, developer and implementer qualifications, and similar customers. Have the vendors respond to each requirement with a number such as "7" in current release and quoted in estimate, "6" in current release, "5" available in 6 months, "4" minor modification or workaround, "3" third party, "2" available in a year, "1" major modification or workaround, "0" not available. By extending the priority of each requirement times the vendor response, and then summing the results, you get a score that will give you an indication of closeness of fit for each vendor.

Attend demonstrations.

The vendors should now know your Critical Success Factors and key requirements, and should be given an agenda so that time is allocated properly. You should attend no more than 4 demonstrations, and limit the time to 2-3 hours. Ask each attendee to identify major strengths and weaknesses, as well as score (-10 to +10) how well they did for each topic on the agenda as well as indicate its importance (1 to 10).