IT Software Vendor Selection

Sliding Line

  • Our client was a 6,000-person organisation operating across both retail and hospitality. They manage a complex Human Resource (HR) model, with 24-hour operations across multiple franchises. At the time, the contract with their legacy HCM (Humana Capital Management) vendor was coming to an end. Following a period of growth, the legacy HCM solution was causing the business to have technical and process workarounds for some of their core HR and Finance processes. The root cause was that the vendor had not invested in the technology or service for their client. New HR and Finance systems could not integrate with the HCM solution or automate any processes as intended. Most importantly, the inefficient processes had an effect on employee satisfaction and turnover. Exevion were brought in to help find a new, fit for purpose, HCM solution.

  • Exevion proposed an approach which involved working collaboratively with vendors. This was conducted in 5 stages:

    • Vendor Shortlisting – based on a set of requirements and selection criteria, we conducted a high-level market scan to identify a series of vendors. 3 vendors were then selected for collaborative workshops;

    • Collaborative Vendor Workshops – ran a series of structured workshops with the vendor and the client teams to assess the:

      • Proposed solution and service;

      • Commercial offering;

      • Implementation plan.

    • Vendor Selection and Contract Negotiations – using a scoring matrix from the vendor workshops and qualitative feedback from the client, we worked with the executive committee to select a preferred vendor and managed the contract negotiations;

    • Vendor Implementation Planning – we worked with the contracted vendor and client teams to develop a detailed implementation plan. This consisted of not only the technical integrations but also process changes, change management, and user acceptance testing;

    • Vendor Implementation – established the governance and provided programme management to deliver the implementation plan through to go-live.

  • A new HCM solution implemented across the business, removing all previous workarounds and improving employee satisfactions scores. The new HCM solution is now also integrated with the other HR and Finance systems via APIs, allowing key processes to be automated. Our client managed to achieve labour time savings and resources were redeployed on more strategic tasks within HR and Finance.

  • Companies looking to replace core software vendors should consider running a collaborative approach instead of going through the traditional RFP process. This allows a client to:

    • Invest time up front in vendor workshops to ensure the right long-term solution is found;

    • Build relationships with the client and potential vendor teams upfront;

    • Measure the vendor based on the solution and team, not just price.

    Additionally, because of the collaborative vendor workshops, the implementation is planned in advance of commercial discussions, allowing the client to prepare and resource for the implementation. Any potential hostilities from the legacy provider are also mitigated early on in the process.