When selecting commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS), companies in the increasingly digitally-based media and entertainment industry need to develop a detailed advance plan, obtain support from all stakeholders and continuously monitor vendor performance against critical expectations, best practices and business requirements.
To implement a manufacturing execution system (MES) across a global manufacturer's numerous sites, establish a core baseline solution as a basis for global rollout, use the implementation as an opportunity for process improvement and optimization, and choose carefully between a phased or a big bang deployment.
Firstsource helped the a leading US mortgage provider to automate high volume, repetitive tasks in its loan set-up, guaranteeing complete data accuracy and improving agent productivity by 250%.
Business plan for CBC(Cognizant Business Consulting) to foray into the Gamification Enterprise Products & Consulting market. Worked closely with senior management to develop actionable strategy addressing all internal & external stakeholders
Two-Tier ERP: Enabling the Future-Ready Global Enterprise with Better Innovat...Cognizant
Organizations that embrace two-tier ERP strategies are better positioned
to both navigate volatile global business conditions and acquire or divest operations that generate operational efficiency and growth.
To implement a manufacturing execution system (MES) across a global manufacturer's numerous sites, establish a core baseline solution as a basis for global rollout, use the implementation as an opportunity for process improvement and optimization, and choose carefully between a phased or a big bang deployment.
Firstsource helped the a leading US mortgage provider to automate high volume, repetitive tasks in its loan set-up, guaranteeing complete data accuracy and improving agent productivity by 250%.
Business plan for CBC(Cognizant Business Consulting) to foray into the Gamification Enterprise Products & Consulting market. Worked closely with senior management to develop actionable strategy addressing all internal & external stakeholders
Two-Tier ERP: Enabling the Future-Ready Global Enterprise with Better Innovat...Cognizant
Organizations that embrace two-tier ERP strategies are better positioned
to both navigate volatile global business conditions and acquire or divest operations that generate operational efficiency and growth.
Network Transformation: Opportunities and Challenges for NEPsCognizant
With declining revenues and new competition from over-the-top players, NEPs should partner with Tier 1 consulting firms to approach CSPs with a complete set of solutions that help deliver next-generation services.
Cognizant -- New Business Models through CollaborationsPistoia Alliance
The Pistoia Alliance Conference in April 2011 included a series of 10-minute "lightning talks" from vendors about what they think pharma will look like in 2020. This presentation was delivered by Jack Angier of Cognizant.
A Blockchain-Based Framework for Apparel & Footwear Supply Chain TraceabilityCognizant
Distributed ledger technology solutions enable fashion brands and retailers to improve supply-chain visibility across their diverse ecosystems, helping them to communicate product provenance to partners and customers, as well as mitigate environmental and reputational risk.
IBM Cognos - IBM informations-integration för IBM Cognos användareIBM Sverige
Hur kan användare av IBM Cognos analys- och rapporteringsfunktioner känna 100% tillförsikt till den information de analyserar? De måste kunna se och få förklaringar till vad informationen betyder, var den kommer ifrån och vilken status den har. Lösningen på denna typ av krav, och fler därtill, är IBM InfoSphere Information Server, som är marknadens mest kompletta plattform för informationsintegration. Denna presentation hölls på IBM Cognos Performance 2010 av Mikael Sjöstedt, InfoSphere Specialist, IBM
Flight Plan Design + Blockchain (Fashion / Retail)Gendry Morales
In this talk, I unpacked how we think about Design in Blockchain. Cover some examples in Retail/Fashion, what we are up to at Flight Plan http://theflightplan.io/ and how we approach blockchain ideas from a human centred design perspective.
Using Adaptive Scrum to Tame Process Reverse Engineering in Data Analytics Pr...Cognizant
Organizations rely on analytics to make intelligent decisions and improve business performance, which sometimes requires reproducing business processes from a legacy application to a digital-native state to reduce the functional, technical and operational debts. Adaptive Scrum can reduce the complexity of the reproduction process iteratively as well as provide transparency in data analytics porojects.
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the CloudCognizant
As banks move to cloud-based banking platforms for lower costs and greater agility, they must seamlessly integrate technologies and workflows while ensuring security, performance and an enhanced user experience. Here are five ways cloud-focused quality assurance helps banks maximize the benefits.
From Data to Insights: How IT Operations Data Can Boost QualityCognizant
By leveraging highly-analyzed operational data - the voice of customers, machines and tests - quality assurance (QA) and IT groups can derive major gains in quality of apps and in user experience.
Manufacturing companies have traditionally
had an on-again-off-again relationship with
technology. However, the paradigm shift driven
by global manufacturing and distribution,
combined with rapid digital innovation, is
changing this equation. Deloitte’s 2016 MHI
survey reveals that 83% of manufacturing
organizations believe investing in key digital
technologies such as IoT, robotics, Big
Data, cloud computing, etc. will be key to
competitive advantage in the near future.1
Organizational Change Management: A Make or Break Capability for Digital SuccessCognizant
To realize the full benefits of digital transformation programs, businesses must manage the impact of digital change on their operational structure, culture and employees.
Processes in the Networked Economies: Portal, Vortex, and Dynamic Trading Pro...Amit Sheth
Amit Sheth, Keynote at the Software Architectures for Business Process Management (SABPM'99) Workshop at CAiSE *99, Heidelberg, June 1999.
Processes will be chief differentiating and the competitive force indoing business in the networked economy. They will be deeply integrated with the way of doing business, and that they will be
critical components of almost all types of systems supporting enterprise-level and business critical activities.
http://knoesis.org/amit
Processes Driving the Networked Economy: Process Portals, Process Vortex and ...Amit Sheth
Amit Sheth's keynote at SABPM '99: Software Architectures for Business Process Management, (Workshop at the CAiSE*99, Heidelberg, Germany, June 14-15, 2009.
http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/cgi-bin/TGI/pnml/getpost?id=1999/04/1203
Related paper: http://knoesis.org/library/resource.php?id=00246
How Agile Application Portfolio Rationalization Delivers Digital SuccessCognizant
Application portfolios benefit from frequent tweaks based on honest user feedback; this enables IT to provide the right mix of applications with the least delay and cost to advance business objectives.
Operational Excellence through Digital in Manufacturing IndustriesCapgemini
Digital Tools Can Help Manufacturing Companies Cut Costs by 30%
Manufacturing companies have historically had an on-off relation with technology. Most have aggressively adopted traditional technologies such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). However, they have been slow in adopting recent digital technologies such as big data analytics, real-time order confirmation, Web-EDI among others. Moreover, most have adopted technologies to varying extent creating a connectivity gap in their operations. We believe digital technologies will help manufacturing companies in eliminating this gap.
Our research and project experience indicate that by adopting digital tools, manufacturing companies can cut costs by as much as 30% by enabling savings on capital costs, labor field force among other key cost elements.
Informed Manufacturing: Reaching for New HorizonsCognizant
Although still in its infancy, informed manufacturing -- making the right information available in the right form at the right time -- is advancing across industry sectors. Cognizant's recent in-depth study involving interviews with manufacturing CXOs, engineering firms, service and IT providers, academia and industry analysts worldwide, revealed that while most companies understand the signifiance of informed manufacturing, many are proceeding carefully -- working to balance the conflicting priorities of managing day-to-day business while focusing on innovation and breakthrough initiatives. They see external support as a critical success factor.
Optimizing the Content Supply Chain: What Manufacturing Can Teach the Broadca...Cognizant
By applying best practices and models used to optimize physical supply chains, broadcasters can more effectively manage their digital content operations.
Network Transformation: Opportunities and Challenges for NEPsCognizant
With declining revenues and new competition from over-the-top players, NEPs should partner with Tier 1 consulting firms to approach CSPs with a complete set of solutions that help deliver next-generation services.
Cognizant -- New Business Models through CollaborationsPistoia Alliance
The Pistoia Alliance Conference in April 2011 included a series of 10-minute "lightning talks" from vendors about what they think pharma will look like in 2020. This presentation was delivered by Jack Angier of Cognizant.
A Blockchain-Based Framework for Apparel & Footwear Supply Chain TraceabilityCognizant
Distributed ledger technology solutions enable fashion brands and retailers to improve supply-chain visibility across their diverse ecosystems, helping them to communicate product provenance to partners and customers, as well as mitigate environmental and reputational risk.
IBM Cognos - IBM informations-integration för IBM Cognos användareIBM Sverige
Hur kan användare av IBM Cognos analys- och rapporteringsfunktioner känna 100% tillförsikt till den information de analyserar? De måste kunna se och få förklaringar till vad informationen betyder, var den kommer ifrån och vilken status den har. Lösningen på denna typ av krav, och fler därtill, är IBM InfoSphere Information Server, som är marknadens mest kompletta plattform för informationsintegration. Denna presentation hölls på IBM Cognos Performance 2010 av Mikael Sjöstedt, InfoSphere Specialist, IBM
Flight Plan Design + Blockchain (Fashion / Retail)Gendry Morales
In this talk, I unpacked how we think about Design in Blockchain. Cover some examples in Retail/Fashion, what we are up to at Flight Plan http://theflightplan.io/ and how we approach blockchain ideas from a human centred design perspective.
Using Adaptive Scrum to Tame Process Reverse Engineering in Data Analytics Pr...Cognizant
Organizations rely on analytics to make intelligent decisions and improve business performance, which sometimes requires reproducing business processes from a legacy application to a digital-native state to reduce the functional, technical and operational debts. Adaptive Scrum can reduce the complexity of the reproduction process iteratively as well as provide transparency in data analytics porojects.
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the CloudCognizant
As banks move to cloud-based banking platforms for lower costs and greater agility, they must seamlessly integrate technologies and workflows while ensuring security, performance and an enhanced user experience. Here are five ways cloud-focused quality assurance helps banks maximize the benefits.
From Data to Insights: How IT Operations Data Can Boost QualityCognizant
By leveraging highly-analyzed operational data - the voice of customers, machines and tests - quality assurance (QA) and IT groups can derive major gains in quality of apps and in user experience.
Manufacturing companies have traditionally
had an on-again-off-again relationship with
technology. However, the paradigm shift driven
by global manufacturing and distribution,
combined with rapid digital innovation, is
changing this equation. Deloitte’s 2016 MHI
survey reveals that 83% of manufacturing
organizations believe investing in key digital
technologies such as IoT, robotics, Big
Data, cloud computing, etc. will be key to
competitive advantage in the near future.1
Organizational Change Management: A Make or Break Capability for Digital SuccessCognizant
To realize the full benefits of digital transformation programs, businesses must manage the impact of digital change on their operational structure, culture and employees.
Processes in the Networked Economies: Portal, Vortex, and Dynamic Trading Pro...Amit Sheth
Amit Sheth, Keynote at the Software Architectures for Business Process Management (SABPM'99) Workshop at CAiSE *99, Heidelberg, June 1999.
Processes will be chief differentiating and the competitive force indoing business in the networked economy. They will be deeply integrated with the way of doing business, and that they will be
critical components of almost all types of systems supporting enterprise-level and business critical activities.
http://knoesis.org/amit
Processes Driving the Networked Economy: Process Portals, Process Vortex and ...Amit Sheth
Amit Sheth's keynote at SABPM '99: Software Architectures for Business Process Management, (Workshop at the CAiSE*99, Heidelberg, Germany, June 14-15, 2009.
http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/cgi-bin/TGI/pnml/getpost?id=1999/04/1203
Related paper: http://knoesis.org/library/resource.php?id=00246
How Agile Application Portfolio Rationalization Delivers Digital SuccessCognizant
Application portfolios benefit from frequent tweaks based on honest user feedback; this enables IT to provide the right mix of applications with the least delay and cost to advance business objectives.
Operational Excellence through Digital in Manufacturing IndustriesCapgemini
Digital Tools Can Help Manufacturing Companies Cut Costs by 30%
Manufacturing companies have historically had an on-off relation with technology. Most have aggressively adopted traditional technologies such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). However, they have been slow in adopting recent digital technologies such as big data analytics, real-time order confirmation, Web-EDI among others. Moreover, most have adopted technologies to varying extent creating a connectivity gap in their operations. We believe digital technologies will help manufacturing companies in eliminating this gap.
Our research and project experience indicate that by adopting digital tools, manufacturing companies can cut costs by as much as 30% by enabling savings on capital costs, labor field force among other key cost elements.
Informed Manufacturing: Reaching for New HorizonsCognizant
Although still in its infancy, informed manufacturing -- making the right information available in the right form at the right time -- is advancing across industry sectors. Cognizant's recent in-depth study involving interviews with manufacturing CXOs, engineering firms, service and IT providers, academia and industry analysts worldwide, revealed that while most companies understand the signifiance of informed manufacturing, many are proceeding carefully -- working to balance the conflicting priorities of managing day-to-day business while focusing on innovation and breakthrough initiatives. They see external support as a critical success factor.
Optimizing the Content Supply Chain: What Manufacturing Can Teach the Broadca...Cognizant
By applying best practices and models used to optimize physical supply chains, broadcasters can more effectively manage their digital content operations.
Prepping for the New Age of Information Services, Media and EntertainmentCognizant
As digital media begins to dominate all segments of the IME industry, organizations will need to restructure their revenue and distribution methods, as well as their global strategies and organizational models.
Insurance Mobility Business Strategy: A Roadmap and Implementation ApproachCognizant
We produce a strategic framework for mobility implementation for insurers including a self-assessment mobility maturity index. Our insurance mobility roadmap includes users, application, platforms, products and functions.
Finding Your Place in the New World of Communications, Media and EntertainmentCognizant
With the dramatic changes in the communications, media and entertainment industry, distribution models are forcing these companies to participate in network platforms, where they can contribute differentiated value and generate meaningful returns.
The Consumer Halo in Media and EntertainmentCognizant
Learn how one studio is starting to realize the benefits of the consumer halo, by combining data sets and generating new insights in their CRM program through a pilot analytics project.
Choosing the right Professional Employer Organization will help your business remain in compliance, leverage the efficiencies of great technology, and facilitate access to comprehensive capabilities that will benefit your business and its employees. So what are the most basic and key things you need to know about PEO?
6 Ways Communication Service Providers Can Improve Customer ExperienceCognizant
Pay TV, high-speed Internet and mobile services are part of consumers’ everyday lives. However, communication service providers continue to struggle with low customer satisfaction levels and high churn rates. To learn more about how customers view CSP services, we’ve tracked consumer satisfaction levels for the last three years, including our recent survey of 1,995 U.S. consumers of CSP services.
Learn how Blackstone found significant value in deploying a single global payroll solution and transferred that knowledge across the firm’s private equity portfolio.
Surviving the Software Selection ProcessAnthony D'Ugo
I presented at a CMA Ontario professional development event to 50+ attendees on Dec 3, 2009, and again on Dec 17, 2009 due to a sold out first session with an accompanying waiting list. I shared insights and approaches with the attendees to help them find opportunities to reduce the costs, risks, and time associated with software evaluation and selection. I was then asked to write an article on the topic for the CMA Ontario Member Newsletter because of the high level of interest from their members - published on Jan 2010.
In today’s global marketplace, successful companies must be able to integrate and quickly view quality audit information from their manufacturing sites all over the world. This strategic capability has become even more important as manufacturers have moved offshore and have become more complex. The value and immediacy of quality assurance data is a critical element to the survival of competitive manufacturing organizations. Software systems can address these issues.
Source:
Lyons Information Systems, Inc
http://www.lyonsinfo.com
Your Challenge
Internal stakeholders usually have different – and often conflicting – needs and expectations that require careful facilitation and management.
Vendors have well-honed negotiating strategies. Without understanding your own position and leverage points, it’s difficult to withstand their persuasive – and sometimes pushy – tactics.
Software – and software licensing – is constantly changing, making it difficult to acquire and retain subject matter expertise.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
Conservatively, it’s possible to save 5% of the overall IT budget through comprehensive software contract review.
Focus on the terms and conditions, not just the price.
Learning to negotiate is crucial.
Impact and Result
Look at your contract holistically to find cost savings.
Guide communication between vendors and your organization for the duration of contract negotiations.
Redline the terms and conditions of your software contract.
Prioritize crucial terms and conditions to negotiate.
7 Questions to Ask Your Prospective Outsourced Product Development Vendortrigentsoftware
This SlideShare on `7 Questions to Ask Your Prospective Outsourced Product Development Vendor' will help you narrow down your choices for selecting the best outsourcing partner for your product development
Content Marketing Software RFP: A Framework to Determine Marketer Needs & Sol...Rebecca Lieb
Against a backdrop of hundreds of content marketing vendors, with new ones emerging all the time, brands are challenged to articulate their content marketing needs. This makes creating an RFP and asking the right questions both of internal stakeholders as well as vendors incredibly difficult from the start.
In this 45-minute webinar, analyst Rebecca Lieb shares best practices for your content marketing software selection process, including her research on the content marketing software landscape.
Watch the webinar on-demand at: http://www.slideshare.net/Altimeter/webinar-content-marketing-software-rfp-by-altimeter-group
Download our Content Marketing Software RFP template at: www.altimetergroup.com/content-marketing-software-rfp.
Why a content marketing software request for proposal (RFP)?
Against a backdrop of hundreds of content marketing vendors, with new ones emerging all the time, brands are challenged to articulate their content marketing needs. This makes creating an RFP and asking the right questions both of internal stakeholders as well as vendors incredibly difficult from the start.
In this 45-minute webinar, analyst Rebecca Lieb shares best practices for your content marketing software selection process, including her research on the content marketing software landscape.
Watch the webinar on-demand at: http://www.slideshare.net/Altimeter/webinar-content-marketing-software-rfp-by-altimeter-group
Download Altimeter's Content Marketing Software RFP template at: www.altimetergroup.com/content-marketing-software-rfp.
2012 Survey of Higher Education CRM Deployment PracticesJohn Copeland
How are colleges and universities using CRM software? A 2012 research study investigates deployment efforts and uncovers best practices for higher education enrollment management and marketing.
This presentation was provided by Daniel Calto of Elsevier during the NISO virtual conference, Research Information Systems: The Connections Enabling Collaboration, held on August 16, 2017.
Know your Talent Tech Stakeholders: Understanding Needs, Managing ExpectationsBeamery
In companies where talent leaders know how to identify the right partners and proactively build a relationship with them, navigating the buying process for new talent technology is much simpler.
It Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional ExperiencesCognizant
Experience is evolving into a strategy that reaches across technology companies. We offer guidance on the rise of experience and its role in business modernization, with details on how orgnizations can build the ecosystem to support it.
The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...Cognizant
The T&L industry appears poised to accelerate its long-overdue modernization drive, as the pandemic spurs an increased need for agility and resilience, according to our study.
Enhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital InitiativesCognizant
To be a modern digital business in the post-COVID era, organizations must be fanatical about the experiences they deliver to an increasingly savvy and expectant user community. Getting there requires a mastery of human-design thinking, compelling user interface and interaction design, and a focus on functional and nonfunctional capabilities that drive business differentiation and results.
The Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility MandateCognizant
According to our research, manufacturers are well ahead of other industries in their IoT deployments but need to marshal the investment required to meet today’s intensified demands for business resilience.
The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...Cognizant
Higher-ed institutions expect pandemic-driven disruption to continue, especially as hyperconnectivity, analytics and AI drive personalized education models over the lifetime of the learner, according to our recent research.
Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...Cognizant
In recent years, insurers have invested in technology platforms and process improvements to improve
claims outcomes. Leaders will build on this foundation across the claims landscape, spanning experience,
operations, customer service and the overall supply chain with market-differentiating capabilities to
achieve sustainable results.
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...Cognizant
Amid constant change, industry leaders need an upgraded IT infrastructure capable of adapting to audience expectations while proactively anticipating ever-evolving business requirements.
Green Rush: The Economic Imperative for SustainabilityCognizant
Green business is good business, according to our recent research, whether for companies monetizing tech tools used for sustainability or for those that see the impact of these initiatives on business goals.
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for InsurersCognizant
The pivot to digital is fraught with numerous obstacles but with proper planning and execution, legacy carriers can update their core systems and keep pace with the competition, while proactively addressing customer needs.
The Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with DigitalCognizant
Utilities are starting to adopt digital technologies to eliminate slow processes, elevate customer experience and boost sustainability, according to our recent study.
AI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to ValueCognizant
Up to now, the global media & entertainment industry (M&E) has been lagging most other sectors in its adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). But our research shows that M&E companies are set to close the gap over the coming three years, as they ramp up their investments in AI and reap rising returns. The first steps? Getting a firm grip on data – the foundation of any successful AI strategy – and balancing technology spend with investments in AI skills.
Operations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First ApproachCognizant
As #WorkFromAnywhere becomes the rule rather than the exception, organizations face an important question: How can they increase their digital quotient to engage and enable a remote operations workforce to work collaboratively to deliver onclient requirements and contractual commitments?
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining FocusedCognizant
Changing market dynamics are propelling Asia-Pacific businesses to take a highly disciplined and focused approach to ensuring that their AI initiatives rapidly scale and quickly generate heightened business impact.
The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...Cognizant
Intelligent automation continues to be a top driver of the future of work, according to our recent study. To reap the full advantages, businesses need to move from isolated to widespread deployment.
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value ChainCognizant
When we spoke with executives across Europe who lead digitising efforts, they described a diverse range of deployments, but digital can, and must, deliver far more than it has so far. In this ebook, we explore how businesses can explore digital's full potential across their value chain.
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value Chain
Selecting a Software Solution: 13 Best Practices for Media and Entertainment Companies
1. Selecting a Software Solution: 13 Best Practices for Media and Entertainment Companies Choosing a software package and vendor is a challenge for media and entertainment businesses. A selection process based on best practices helps ensure that this task starts and stays on firm ground.
Executive SummaryThe media and entertainment (M&E) industry’s gradual and seemingly perpetual transition to digital asset consumption is complicated by frag- mented distribution channels, ever-increasing competition, eroding profit margins and rapidly evolving technology. As such, the roles of the CIO/ CTO (and, more generally, IT) are critical for busi- nesses looking to leverage technology, accelerate digital transformation and optimize enabling tools and capabilities. When acquiring new enterprise software appli- cations or replacing existing systems, many companies adopt a buy vs. build strategy — a tried-and-true approach for addressing the pace and frequency of change in the M&E space. The rationale for purchasing commercial-off-the- shelf (COTS) solutions must take into account several factors, including: • Purchasing COTS software is typically more cost-effective (all things being equal). As a result, most companies limit custom software to cases where it creates a strategic advantage
and is essential to staying ahead of the compe- tition. Most software capabilities do not fall into this category. • Specialty software vendors that service the media and entertainment industry typically stay up-to-date on industry trends, customer requirements and best practices. This compels their customers to keep up with the vendor’s latest offerings if they want to benefit from the “latest and greatest” solutions. • Vendors that specialize in the M&E industry are more likely to anticipate emerging issues, and have developed strategies to contend with them based on prior experiences. These vendors also offer access to other clients (via user groups) that can discuss common industry challenges and solutions. This white paper reveals best practices and processes for selecting the right packaged software solution, along with an approach for building a Centre of Excellence (CoE) to stream- line the process. • Cognizant 20-20 Insights
cognizant 20-20 insights | january 2015
2. cognizant 20-20 insights 2
A Best Practices Tutorial
Selecting software packages to support business
operations is something that all media companies
do. Nonetheless, few have spent the time required
to define, formalize, codify, communicate and
strictly govern the process — efforts that can help
ensure operational efficiency with a solution that
best fits their requirements and aligns with key
stakeholder objectives. Figure 1 above highlights
the best practices that comprise a standard busi-ness process for solution selection.
In our view, M&E companies must adhere to the
following 13 best practices in order to put the
odds of successful implementation in their favour:
1. Make a build vs. buy decision before
starting the solution-selection process.
Throughout the process of choosing software,
it is important that a selection committee
compares similar products. Obliging stake-holders to accept a vendor without a clear
understanding of a software solution’s
strengths and limitations (current and future
functionality) is not conducive to a fair
assessment. At the same time, because non-
technical resources can be influenced by sales
talk and the “art of the possible,” the vendor
field should be limited to those with products
that meet the company’s current require-ments. It’s also important to examine build
options — either before or after assessing
commercial packages (and finding that no
commercial package can meet the stated
requirements). > > Risk if ignored: Custom options will come
across as meeting all requirements, but in
reality, the total cost of ownership will be
higher.
2. Identify the decision makers in advance, and
brief them on responsibilities and expec-tations.
Try to avoid bringing in resources
later, which might reset the selection process.
This helps ensure that the software selection
process will be timely and efficient. Forming
a selection committee is important. Stake-holders will know what is expected of them,
task- and time-wise. It’s equally critical to
identify committee members to the rest of
the organisation so that any objections can
be raised before vendors enter the picture.
If needed, more people can be brought into
the process, but they must understand their
roles (i.e., if they are casting votes or simply
making suggestions/recommendations to the
voting group). > > Risk if ignored: The primary goal of the
software selection process is to make a de-cision.
This requires knowing who the deci-sion
makers are. Delaying the formation of a
decision-making body could cause change-
management issues that delay the process.
3. Collect requirements/stories/journeys before
selecting a solution. Choosing a vendor
must be based on business requirements and
address the business challenges at hand. Too
often, a package is selected before require-ments are confirmed. In some cases, an
executive will make a decision without having
sufficient information. In other scenarios, an
effective vendor sales rep can short-circuit the
procurement process. Having a list of specific
needs will help identify and accurately assess
any gaps in potential solutions and decide
what compromises can or should be made. > > Risk if ignored: The selected solution may
not meet some critical requirements if these
needs were not identified early on. These
Figure 1
Navigating the Software Selection Continuum: An Illustrative Approach
Business and IT Strategy Vendor Research & Shortlist Day in the Life
Requirements RFP Recommend Solution
• Strategic Goals
• Critical Success Factors
• Kick-Off Project
• Business
• Functional
• Non-Functional
• Analyst Input
• RFI
• Research Competition
• Business-Led Selection
• References
• Site Visits
• Vendor Demonstration
• Business-Driven Scenarios
• Work with Real Data
• Draft Implementation Roadmap
• TCO Analysis
• Select Backup Vendor
3. cognizant 20-20 insights 3
oversights can force companies to “start
over,” or live with a tool with significant
shortcomings.
4. Solution selection is the first step in an
implementation initiative. Treat it as such.
Standard project governance should apply
during the solution selection phase, including
regular communications, stakeholder involve-ment and change management. The business
side needs to be involved from the beginning,
and brought into the process when inevitable
challenges occur. Otherwise, stakeholders will
make it clear that “That software wasn’t my
choice,” … “If I had been involved from the
beginning, this wouldn’t have happened.”
> > Risk if ignored: Stakeholders won’t feel
involved in the solution, and may not be as
collaborative when issues arise or gaps need
to be addressed.
5. Publish a schedule and stick to it. Treating
solution selection as the first phase in an
implementation initiative requires a detailed
project plan that must be followed like any
other phase of the software development
lifecycle (SDLC). Early on, choose the stake-holders who will vote on the final selection.
Defining the stages (request for information,
request for proposal, demonstrations, site
visits, etc.) up-front also provides clarity for
both internal participants and vendors. Your
organisation will receive the best performance
and pricing from vendors if they believe that
you will stick to your timeline/deadlines. > > Risk if ignored: The selection phase can
drag on — consuming internal resources’
time and causing vendors to lose interest,
since they don’t know when a deal might
close.
6. Provide the vendor with as much infor-mation
as possible. Vendor selection
often requires M&E organisations to walk
a tightrope — not knowing if they are giving
vendors too much or too little information.
Companies must be as open as possible —
giving potential vendors a precise picture of
strategic objectives, requirements and expec-tations. At the same time, some types of infor-mation
should be held back in order to posture
for a later negotiation (budget expecta-tions), understand the intentions of changing
vendors (using competing vendors to drive
price down further) or safeguard sensitive
corporate strategies (how the software
might need to support a new product launch
or acquisition). To ensure
consistent communica-tions
with vendors, internal
resources working on the
solution selection should
have an open discussion
about how much and what
kind of information should
be conveyed to vendors. > > Risk if ignored: Essential
information that would
allow a vendor to demon-strate a good fit is held back; in the worst
case, the company makes the wrong soft-ware selection.
7. Make the record public (record conversa-tions;
save/publish scorecards, etc.). One
of the key objectives of the vendor selection
process is to give internal stakeholders
confidence in the chosen software solution. If a
project team is having separate conversations
with vendors or communicating internally
without all stakeholders involved, their actions
can be perceived in a negative way. However, if
all discussions are documented and provided
to all stakeholders, there is less chance that
people will feel left out of the process. > > Risk if ignored: Stakeholders might feel as
if they were not in control of the selection
process and express reservations about the
solution.
8. Spend time with vendors outside of the
conference room; understand cultural fit.
In many cases, companies will select a
vendor based on more than just software
requirements. In situations where the vendor
will support the application, or where you
expect to have many changes or maintenance
requirements going forward, your organisa-tion
must assess how the vendor aligns with
your business’s culture (beliefs, values), and
view their capabilities from both a technical
and functional perspective.
One of Cognizant’s global publishing clients
short-listed two vendors with very similar
capabilities for its order-to-cash application.
The final decision was made based on the cul-tural fit of the vendor organisation. Visiting a
vendor’s offices is a good way to understand
the culture and skills of the business beyond
just the sales/solution team that your com-pany is dealing with through the procurement
process.
Having a list of
specific needs
will help identify
and accurately
assess any gaps in
potential solutions
and decide what
compromises can
or should be made.
4. cognizant 20-20 insights 4
> Risk if ignored: A vendor’s capabilities
and culture are not fully understood; if
the vendor pivots away from serving the
media industry, the result can significant-ly
limit future modifications that impact
your business.
9. Encourage stakeholders/decision makers to
have discussions outside of the conference
room. In many cases, your company’s selection
committee members will
come from different areas
of the business and view
solution requirements in
radically different ways.
Encouraging debate and
discussion among decision
makers will help them gain
an appreciation for how
others will utilize the system
and view themselves as part
of a larger ecosystem, rather
than simply an individual user
of the application. We have
seen this manifest positively
as roadblocks that arise in
a group setting are broken down following
one-on-one discussions. > > Risk if ignored: Strong personalities may
not want to compromise in a large group
setting — leading to a stalemate.
10. Ask for references from successful and
challenging projects. While few projects are
problem-free, companies look for vendors
that will stand next to them during both
good and bad times. In the software/vendor
selection process, references can frequently
prove worthless. The vendor selects target
clients that offer glowing feedback and uses
those references over and over. As part of a
solution-selection initiative, your company
should dictate the type of client reference it
requires, rather than leaving that decision up
to the vendor. Vendors too often worry about
negative feedback; however, if a former client
can say that it worked through a negative
scenario with the vendor and the vendor was
responsive and responsible, that endorsement
can be more powerful than an unwavering
positive recommendation. > > Risk if ignored: Glowing references might
reveal a “false positive” that doesn’t address
the vendor’s ability to deal with change, or
indicate how they collaborate with client or-ganisations to work through issues.
11. Involve a consulting group/implementation
partner if necessary. The nature of special-ized roles required in many media industry sub-
segments often results in companies taking
an internally-focused approach to talent and
resourcing. This can create a “closed” attitude
towards technology selection that does not
take into account a system’s potential, or
the impact of industry trends. If you believe
such a situation exists in your company, it
could be worth involving a consulting group
or an implementation partner to assist in the
software selection process. > > Risk if ignored: Wider industry trends and/
or best practices might be missed without
outside assistance for project-related work.
12. Make it personal! Requirements are essential,
but provide users with “day-in-the-life”
scenarios and real data for them to run
through the system. One recent trend we
see in the media space is that companies
abandon the traditional RFP in favor of story-
based demonstrations from a small number
of vendors sourced from industry recom-mendations. In this scenario, it’s important
that vendors be guided in a way that allows
for “apples-to-apples” comparisons at the
end of the process. We also find that having
data and scenarios that
stakeholders can identify
with will allow them to
visualize what working with
the system will actually be
like. At one vendor demon-stration for a global enter-tainment company, the
vendor used data from a
manufacturing client. Even
though the scenarios were
relevant, the key business
stakeholder couldn’t get
past the different industry
and ultimately couldn’t see
himself using the tool. > > Risk if ignored: Allowing vendors to control
the agenda allows them to highlight their
company’s strong points and gloss over their
weaknesses.
13. Mind the gaps and navigate around them.
Packaged solutions will never meet all of your
company’s business requirements; you will
need to compromise on certain aspects. Know
your organisation’s essential/priority/non-
negotiable needs heading into the selection,
Visiting a vendor’s
offices is a good way
to understand the
culture and skills
of the business
beyond just the
sales/solution team
that your company is
dealing with through
the procurement
process.
Glowing references
might reveal a
“false positive” that
doesn’t address
the vendor’s ability
to deal with change,
or indicate how they
collaborate with
client organisations
to work through
issues.
5. cognizant 20-20 insights 5
then create a roadmap for addressing the
gaps that exist with the best-fit vendor. > > Risk if ignored: Companies can become
consumed with addressing all requirements
before going live, which can quickly devolve
into a never-ending enhancement cycle in
which costs and time balloon.
Creating a Centre of Excellence
You’ve likely heard about business and IT execu-tives being swayed by a well-spoken vendor rep,
making a purchase without a proper selection
process, then handing it over to others to imple-ment. Conversely, some companies struggle over
which tool to move forward with — always asking
for more information or another demo without
coming to a decision. Organisations that don’t
have a formal methodology for solution selection
will find themselves with a higher percentage of
failed projects, although many times other issues
will mask this reality.
If a company’s IT team selects a software plat-form that the business never adopts, it’s safe to
assume that the business did not have time to
vet and certify the solution before implementa-tion.
Likewise, if the software fails to address a
core business challenge,
the vendor can be per-ceived as inflexible or
short-sighted. In both
cases, the root of the
problem can be traced
to a flawed selection
process.
Setting up a Centre
of Excellence around
solution selection
and investing in pro-curement tools can
be a challenging busi-ness case; however, by
framing and defining the steps and tasks involved
in the selection process, companies can avoid
pitfalls, build more confidence in selected solu-tions, and realize a higher success rate (see
Figure 2, above).
Looking Ahead
A well-defined software selection process and
tool set are essential for M&E companies, regard-less of where the requirements originate within
the business. The process can involve dedicated
resources, or comprise a central support group
Define the Standard
Selection Process
Understand that exceptions
will exist and be ready to
compromise.
Define Tools and
Templates to Support
the Process
Requirement • RFI/RFP •
Scorecard
Evaluate the
Procurement Tool
Allow for central visibility
and metrics.
Monitor and Revise
the Process
Evaluate the outcomes and
modify the process to fit the
organisation.
Educate and Inform
About the New Process
Train resources who will perform
the process and inform others
who will be involved.
Creating a Centre of Excellence:
Framing and Defining the Selection Process
Figure 2
Organisations that
don’t have a formal
methodology for
solution selection
will find themselves
with a higher
percentage of failed
projects, although
many times other
issues will mask this
reality.