Professional Services Business Software Selection

Objective

An engineering consultancy had recently unsuccessfully moved from an unstable, home-grown projects systems to a web-based replacement. Both the legacy software and the new software were unworkable for the business, causing severe roadblocks with billing and project management. We were engaged to assist the business with identifying key processes and requirements, then going to market to identify the most suitable go-forward replacement.

Solution Delivery

• Over three days, two Alchemists mapped systems and processes with key staff, identifying process gaps, business critical requirements and desired future growth.
• Detailed information was developed into a Business Requirements list, where each functional or system requirement was ranked.
• Market research provided a long list of candidate vendors, who were then approached with an RFI, that then reduced to a short-list presented with an RFP. At both stages, candidate vendors scored their functionality back to our requirements list. This then fed into our modelling system, where we calculated best fit % based on the qualified responses.
• We coordinated and managed the software demonstrations with the vendor short-list, ensuring each vendor had the right information to present based on the business needs. This included the provision of detailed operational scenarios that the business expected to see the software meet.
• Staff members attending the demonstrations were required to complete feedback score based on the original Requirements List. This was then fed into our modelling, where we came up with a final qualitative ranking for best fit. This ranking, as well as review of the commercials, allowed the business Directors to ultimately select the right solution for the business.

Achievements

• The selected system not only covered all the current business critical needs but has the ability for future-implemented functionality, meeting the needs of the business as it evolves.
• Prior paper-based systems were included, allowing for future elimination with staff completing key tasks on line.
• Most importantly, the selected software provides a robust and stable platform, ensuring that upgrades and changes can occur without reliance on one key staff member, or an aging server.

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