Introduction and challenges
Once business needs and functional building blocks have been defined, selecting the most relevant IT tools is an important step in a transformation project. The selection process must strive to effectively balance the right coverage of business needs, consistency with the global IT environment and total cost of ownership (full acquisition, implementation and maintenance costs). This process can be long and complex.
The mastery of business challenges, needs and an understanding of the different solutions’ offerings (real capacities and their evolution roadmap) are the key factors for the success of the selection process.
How we can help
Our role in IT systems projects is to be the guarantor of our client’s business challenges by helping and challenging them in the definition of target processes. This is done by valuing the business case, supporting the selection process, managing the integrator and embedding users. All of this is done completely independently from the system providers.
We advise many companies in the selection and implementation of IT tools that support the implementation of new processes in all or part of the operations chain/support functions: ERP, APS, WMS, TMS, MES, LIMS, MDM, PIM, MAP, reporting and/or consolidation systems, etc.
Each year, we update our analysis of market tools, by fine-tuning their strengths and weaknesses, testing their recent developments and challenging their development ambitions.
We support our clients in all phases of tool selection projects:
- Definition, structuring and prioritization of business needs
- Definition of an effective selection process
- Pre-selection of solution vendors that meet the identified needs, based on our functional benchmarks and technical evaluation of the solutions
- Preparation of the consultation file for publishers and definition of the response evaluation methodology
- Coordination of interactions with system providers (demos, visits, customer testimonials, project meetings and negotiations) with the IT department and business departments
- Construction of the business case (assessment of benefits and costs of shortlisted solutions)
- The final selection process, based on the alignment of decision-makers
- Preparation of cost negotiations using the firm’s purchasing expertise and our knowledge of the publishers’ business model