Software Evaluation

Defining requirements and conducting an evaluation for a new financial, CRM, Order Management or Enterprise/ERP system is complex and time-consuming endeavor. TSI knows this since we frequently help our clients with such evaluations.  Based on our experience, if your organization is looking at adding or replacing existing software it is likely because:

•    Some critical aspect about your "business model" (e.g. new competitors, customer needs or regulatory changes, recent acquisition) has changed resulting in a gap between how your organization needs to operate and what capabilities the legacy software supports.
•    Management lacks the analytics and insights that should foster better, faster decisions.  
•    Staff productivity is constrained by spreadsheets and manual/paper-based processes that lack automation and scalability.
•    Technology is dated or no longer supported by the vendor; as a result you are forced to change or add new software.

Enterprise, financial, CRM and related technology has changed rapidly in many ways.  Ranging from the introduction and maturing of SaaS and Cloud-based products to the convergence of social media and enterprise software, functionality is increasingly becoming more robust.  .  Defining what is really needed to support the business now and in the future, in contrast to “bells and whistles” features is often a complicated task, even for people who know their business well.    

Additionally, a  number of software companies have been on an acquisition binge while others are on a survival mission.   These trends make the challenge of selecting the right software package even more daunting.

If software is supposed to support the business, what does the business really need?   Is it Accounting software, a full blown ERP package, and should you include CRM, SCM, e-commerce or other extensions?  How well integrated are the modules and what does this mean for your IT organization?  As a result, management teams are cautious about committing resources to what is a long term decision without the right amount of due diligence.  TSI helps organizations make the right selection decision for new business software by guiding them to answer the following questions:

• What is truly unique about your organization (your business model, current and likely  future requirements)?
• What should your business processes be, and how can the software package capabilities be used as an enabler?
• What do you want to achieve as a result of implementing new software?
• What packages should be considered?
• What change management topics need to be considered?

TSI’s Value Proposition

Clients turn to TSI for assistance because we have no financial arrangements with any software vendor and we do not have a consulting practice dependent on implementing specific packages.

Our objectivity allows us to orchestrate the evaluation process as the “client’s advocate” while at the same time guiding the software vendors to demonstrate what our clients need to see. 

We help define the key scenarios that represent your unique and/or complex requirements and we help develop incisive questions that will help you differentiate vendor solutions.  We look to focus on how processes can be simplified, automated, standardized where needed and to ensure that complex processes can be supported through flexible, configurable and integrated solutions.

TSI’s Software Evaluation Project Methodology is depicted below:

In addition to our experience in knowing which vendors to evaluate based on your needs, TSI adds significant value by:

• Providing "boilerplate" or starting point lists of requirements
• Rapidly defining and reviewing your current and future requirements so your requirements are reflective of your destiny, not your past
• Objectively evaluating software vendor demonstrations
• Removing much of the burden of defining the processes, requirements and sifting through a myriad of vendor options
• Assessing software vendor performance to make the best decision for your organization
• Fostering "buy in" from the subject matter experts at your organization
  
• Assisting during the implementation phase, depending your resources and needs, with project management, technical implementation, change management and use case/test case support.

Remember, an Ounce of Selection is worth a Pound of Implementation.

Click here for a pdf that answers the question “We Need A New System But How Do We Choose The Right One?"