Outdated Buying Practices May Weaken GRC Technology Purchasing

Trey Donohue, principal solutions consultant with OpenPages, points out that most software selection processes have remained unchanged in the past 10-15 years -- a period when the essential nature of software has transformed dramatically.

The problem is speed: traditional RFIs and RFPs can take up to a year to complete, and many vendors -- being what they are -- have automated their responses to these requests.

I asked Trey to tell me what emerging software-selection practices have most impressed him and he responded with four pieces of advice based on what he's seen work best:

1. Ignore the formal RFP process. Unfortunately, this is a part of most Fortune 500 procurement practices, but the reality is that it rarely provides any real value to the business users or software vendors. From the software vendor side, most of the RFP-response process is now automated, so you rarely get an accurate representation. From the business users' perspective, depending on the size of the organization and level of involvement from procurement teams, this process could take well over a year. At that point, the reasons you initially started out on a selection process may look dramatically different due to changing requirements and/or priorities. The more you can work outside of this formal RFP process, the better -- for both customer and vendor.

2. Instead, establish a set of clearly defined business requirements. This doesn't mean generating a laundry list of "must haves" and "nice to haves" gathered from surveys of the business. Rather, it requires a true understanding of why you are embarking on a software selection process. In other words, what is the business problem or pain your organization is trying to solve. If you cannot clearly answer that question, then you should put the selection on-hold.

3. Treat the relationship as a partnership as opposed to the traditional client/vendor dichotomy. Most selection processes are antagonistic and untrustworthy with both sides feeling as through they are being taken advantage of by the other. By defining mutual areas of success that both parties can be happy with, work can then proceed on how best to achieve those. From the client's perspective this may then involve engaging with not only the sales team, but getting to know the services team and who you will be working with long term. There may also be some proving-out phase or conference-room pilot, but again it is done so in the context of a partnership.

4. Finally, speak to other customers in your line of business about challenges, comfort levels, and advice. Don't rely only on those customers provided by the vendor -- reach out to other industry contacts on your own. Attend a user conference; this is where you tend to see some of the "dirty laundry" aired during user groups or forums.

"The bottom line is that software has come a long way in being able to quickly deploy and provide value to customers," he says. "The vendor selection process needs to catch up. The faster you can navigate through the vendor selection process, the more benefits you will reap from a successful implementation."