Software Selection
A preferred vendor you can defend, so the organisation moves into project execution with Board backing and confidence. We take no commissions or referral fees from software vendors. Ever.
Two months, seven stage gates, one Board paper. Larger programs are scoped at the Strategy Call.
What you walk away with, how it runs, and what makes it work on your side.
A requirements catalogue, agreed before any vendor is engaged.
Every shortlisted vendor scored against the same criteria.
Contract risks flagged and addressed before the decision.
Someone on your side of the table in contract negotiations.
An implementation plan ready for the next step.
A Board paper with the recommendation and the reasoning.
G1 Requirements
G2 Market scan
G3 Shortlist and RFP
G4 Demos and scoring
G5 Contract review
G6 Implementation plan
G7 Board paper and decision
Lock the Board date at the start, so every gate works back to a real decision.
Put the right people in requirements workshops in the first fortnight, so vendors are measured against how the organisation actually works.
Hold vendors to the RFP window, so every response is compared on the same footing.
You must choose a core system and cannot afford a wrong answer; the organisation will live with it for a decade.
Software is being chosen on the strength of the demo, not its fit to how the organisation actually works.
Requirements are written after vendors are engaged, so the shortlist quietly shapes the needs.
Terms, service levels and pricing structures are read closely only after the preferred vendor has been chosen.
What the organisation actually needs is agreed and documented before a single vendor is engaged.
Three to five vendors answer one brief and run scripted demos, scored against the same criteria.
The preferred vendor contract is assessed for service levels and remedies, data ownership and exit, pricing structure and escalation, and liability and termination before the Board is asked to decide, and anything risky gets a second senior look before the Board sees it.
The Board approves both the vendor and the plan to realise the benefits in one decision, with the evidence behind it.
Functional, technical and reporting needs, agreed before vendors were engaged.
Every shortlisted vendor, scored against the same criteria, not against impressions from a demo.
Key terms, service levels and pricing, with risks flagged and addressed.
Phases, responsibilities, resourcing and timeline to deliver the business case.
The recommendation, the reasoning and the decision sought.
Before G1, we confirm the question. If the strategy is clear, we go straight to requirements. If it is partly clear, G1 opens with a short strategic context check. If the real question is strategic, we say so and recommend Digital Strategy in 60 Days first.
What the organisation actually needs.
A long list of credible options.
Three to five vendors, one brief.
Scripted demos, scored evidence.
Terms, service levels and pricing.
Phases, roles and resourcing.
Board paper and decision.
You make the call at every gate, and we only move on when you have. One named senior consultant leads the work from first gate to Board paper.
Software Implementation, from selected platform to a live, adopted system that delivers the business case. LevelUp™, flexible access to advanced skills after go-live to keep improving the system and the way it is used.
The clauses that cost organisations most after signing, and what to ask before you do.
Your name, work email and organisation. We email the document to you.
A Strategy Call to test whether you are ready to select, or whether the question needs framing first.