You know what information system you want to purchase, and even more important, why you need it. Now the tricky question is who to invite to participate in the software selection extravaganza; which vendors to pick for your first round?

The suppliers in this first round are put on a list: the long list. They will asked by you to provide some basic information (the request for information - rfi) by which you will determine who will be looked into more detail: the guys and galls that will make up the short list.

You need at least of small dozen vendors for your first round to have a fair overview. I prefer between 10 and 15. If you use less, you won't have parties to compare, and if you use more, you will drown in information overload, and won't be able to give them all enough attention anyway.

Who to pick? As I confessed, I'm an "early majority" myself, so I would look first of all to what my competitors are using; see what colleagues abroad are operating and inquire to what is common to similar markets, so not completely my own domain, are doing. Impressed by how another company is handling their process? Look at their system.

Being a pragmatist, I also look at industry organizations. Each industry has some overall organization that has information on vendors that make software for your domain.

If you are an early adopter, you go to seminars and cutting edge exhibitions; and you scan the internet for the latest developments.

Late majority people just ask for the market leader, and that's that. For this group of people it's difficult to have even two vendors on the long list.

This list is just for fun, it's really coincidence if one of these vendors does exist!

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Software Selection.