Perspectives & Strategy

There seems to be a common error in writing about implementing applications, it occurs when an author suggests “first select the right vendor”. Absolutely NOT. Little wonder so many implementations go wrong. The first step in doing any systems implementation is: understand, and document, the business process involved. In other words know the fullest scope of the problem to be solved.

Irrespective of the business challenge it is wrong to enter solution mode before defining the scope of the problem that must be resolved.

There are two aspects to business process engineering: identifying the existing process and seeking to understand the proposed new solution. As the team works through this process there will be several options that will normally present themselves. Key at this point is to avoid the tendency to go into solution mode. Knowing which direction the business is heading in will ultimately assist the decision making process. Assessing vendors before knowing the fullest extent of the business problem faced can lead to serious errors during the implementation.

Normally completing the process review will naturally identify the most likely solution providers. The scope of the capability required can also eliminate some vendors as well.

This advice applies irrespective of the type of solution implemented. In fact starting out by having a senior manager, such as the CEO dictate that the solution MUST be SaaS based can in fact mean that a wrong application is selected. Please be clear this writer is not against cloud based solutions it is simply a matter of ensuring that corporate funds are not wasted in deploying just any old solution.

When it comes to selecting the appropriate vendor it is always important to perform the right amount of due diligence on the corporation, its financial stability, security capability etc. Again this is also important when talking to SaaS vendors the selectors should remember that some of these vendors do not have longevity of some of the traditional software vendors.

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Other Reading on Due Diligence:

Due Diligence Check list

Consulting Due Diligence

Strategic Due Diligence

On possible Legal Definition and another.