WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

A relationship with a technology vendor can last many years, and as you intertwine more of your data and systems with a vendor, you will become increasingly dependent on the vendor. Therefore, it is important for the relationship to get off on the right foot, building a foundation that will last for many years to come. Vendors are looking out for their own interests, not your interests. Often organizations have little experience in vendor selection and contract negotiations. Therefore, it is helpful to have someone in your corner who understands how to select, negotiate, and implement major technology platforms.

HOW DOES FPOV HELP?

We have designed an end to end vendor selection process to help our clients dramatically lower the risk of an expensive and painful outcome from a technology vendor selection. We walk alongside our clients as they navigate this important process, guiding them down the path of:

Building a Business Case: We help our clients develop a business case for the technology and a justification for its implementation. This may include an ROI analysis so that leaders can understand how the technology can improve the organization.

Discovery: In this stage, we help our clients fully understand their current environment and the challenges they may face in the implementation. We often do this by interviewing process owners and building a process inventory. Finally, we can hold a requirements workshop. This workshop, with key stakeholders, helps us to develop a requirements matrix in which we can highlight “must haves,” “should have,” “could have,” and “won’t have.”

Solution Decision & Contracting Purchase: In this stage, we help to ensure you properly contract and negotiate with a vendor. The first part of this is choosing the vendor. This is extremely important and we walk with you through the entire process. We help you develop an RFP and vet the proposals that are returned to you. We sit beside you through vendor demonstrations and score responses based on your requirements, our investigation into your processes, and our deep knowledge in vendor selection. Then we help you determine a finalist.

Contract negotiations are a critical component. We use our Vendor Relationship and Contracting Process (VRCP) to maximize the negotiations and ensure that the vendor lives up to the promises that were made during the proposal process. Finally, we can help during the implementation phase, to ensure it is a smooth onboarding of the software, and the vendor lives up to agreements and promises.

We have three different types of specific vendor selections:

• SaaS Solutions: This service incorporates several core FPOV services including Enterprise Architecture Blueprinting, Business Process Mapping & Modeling. Vendor/Platform Tracking, RFP Development, Dispersement and RFP Response Scoring, Functional and Non-Functional Requirements Development, Demo Hosting, Solutioning and IT Capability to Business Capability Alignment.
• Mobile Solutions: Be it a seamless and immersive user experience via a native app or a mobile web solution, our Mobile Vendor Selection process can eliminate the complexity in choosing an experienced vendor so that you can continue to scale the user experience with new functionality and features.
• Managed Services Provider: This service also incorporates several core FPOV services such as Enterprise Architecture Blueprinting, Business Process Mapping & Modeling, Business Capability Modeling, Vendor/Platform Tracking, RFP Development, Dispersement and RFP Response Scoring, MSP Selection Criteria, Responsive SLA Scoring, MSP Transparency KPIs, and IT to Business Capability Alignment.