Selecting computer systems is always a challenge. It requires distinguishing current functionality from future promises, often referred to as ‘vaporware’. The ERP marketplace is also shifting from too many choices to too few choices forcing companies to more clearly understand the differences between the competing alternatives and the compromises they will make implementing those alternatives.

Our selection services include the following:

• Unbiased advice. We do not sell or represent any computer hardware or software.
  
• An established selection process that was refined over twenty years of experience helping clients select computer systems and is taught at UCLA Extension. It includes:
  
  
  • A thorough understanding of the company’s business needs and requirements
  • Formal proposals from prospective vendors
  • Formal demonstrations to see and evaluate the alternatives using actual data to demonstrate real scenarios
  • Inquiries of existing customers
  • Contract negotiations that address the complexities of system purchases
  • A level playing field among prospective vendors
  • Identification ‘gaps’ between client needs and system functions Knowing the ‘gaps’ between client business needs and system functions is critical.
    
    Knowing this early in the selection and implementation process results in better choices and better frames the subsequent implementation. Failure to understand these increases project risk.

Typical problems we encounter in the selection process are:

• Vendors who over promise and under deliver
• Sales people who lack adequate product knowledge
• Hyper-aggressive sales people who actively bypass a rational selection

Purchasing business technology is a costly, daunting process. We help our clients develop appropriate plans, identify their needs and requirements and establish a structured selection approach. We eliminate the risk of inappropriate selection. We reduce the risk of an unsuccessful implementation.