At Makewise software selection is more than a core competency, it is a passion. We use our combined business and technology expertise to provide unbiased guidance to our clients to help them successfully select and implement the right software solutions. We can help you select business software systems for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Accounting and Financials, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Donor Management for Not-for-Profits, Human Resources and Payroll, Project Management, Office Productivity, Manufacturing, Point-of-Sale (POS), Inventory, Distribution, Warehouse Management and software designed to meet a wide variety of additional needs. And we understand and have experience selecting software systems for a wide variety of Industries including Non-Profit, Professional Services, Manufacturing, Distribution, Construction, Health Care and many others. Our software selection services include:
Requirements Assessment
This is the foundation for all following phases. During this phase we conduct interviews with internal staff; identify the needs of external stakeholders; review current policies, processes and procedures; review current reporting capabilities; identify budget constraints; ensure management support; create the project team; set expectations; identify opportunities for business process improvement and use the knowledge obtained to identify Critical Success Factors to be used in evaluating and selecting software systems and vendors.
Request for Proposal (RFP)
During this phase, we prepare a document that effectively conveys key information about your company and industry, your system requirements, vendor/service provider expectations, requests relevant information from vendors/service providers and provides vendors with information on your selection process and timeline.
Identification of Software and Vendors
Using the information obtained during the Requirements Assessment we research potential software systems, vendors and service providers, creating a list of candidates. We then use the Critical Success Factors identified during the Requirements Assessment, along with discussions with potential candidates, to create an RFP distribution list.
RFP Distribution, Tracking and Management
Once the RFP distribution list is created, we distribute and manage the return of confidentiality agreements that protect you and the vendors. Upon the receipt of executed confidentiality agreements, we distribute and manage the return of RFPs and handle all vendor inquiries pertaining to the RFP.
Vendor Proposal Assessment
When vendor proposals are received, we prepare a summary of key information, evaluate vendor responses against your Critical Success Factors and meet with you to select (typically) three to four vendors to be invited to provide product demonstrations.
Vendor Demonstrations
We create and provide scripts and guidelines for vendor presentations, to ensure that vendors are presenting solutions to your business requirements and to provide a consistent basis for comparing the offerings being considered. We also provide score sheets and instructions for the evaluation team to use, in order to score the offerings on a consistent basis. We attend all vendor demos to assist in keeping vendors on track and responsive and to facilitate interaction between the evaluation team and the vendors.
Decision Support
With the completion of vendor demonstrations, we work with you to select the software systems and solution providers that best meet your needs. This includes compilation and review of evaluation team scoring, review of your Critical Success Factors and creation of multi-year pricing models to determine total cost of ownership and final due diligence procedures, including reference calls.
Contract Negotiation
At Makewise, we have years of experience negotiating software contracts and have developed knowledge of many industry-leading software vendors and service providers, their pricing strategies and contract terms. We understand that vendors are working in a competitive environment and that effective negotiating can result in contracts that have a lower total cost of ownership and most favorable terms.
Implementation Support
You’ve made your choice and now the heavy lifting begins. While you will have selected a vendor with a sound implementation methodology, successful implementation will require effective management and execution of the implementation process, along with configuration and process change decisions to derive the most value from your new software systems. We don’t jump ship when the going gets tough, we stand with you and use the deep knowledge of your organization that we obtained during the selection process, along with our experience managing numerous implementations, to help guide you to a successful go-live of your new systems.
Periodic Review
You are live on your new systems and the project has reached completion, right? Wrong, going live with new systems and deriving the full value of their use takes time. What is working as expected, what is more challenging than believed, where is additional training required, do you need to modify policies and procedures that support the use of the new systems? These and many other questions can only be answered after you have used your new systems for an extended period of time. When that time is reached, we will facilitate a review and help you identify and make the modifications required to derive additional value from your systems.
