Information
Technology Procurement
This report discusses issues
and concerns that should be addressed when making technical product and
service purchases. Note that few of these are "killer" problems.
You may find, in fact, that some of the points raised as possible problems
are irrelevant to your situation or preferences. But this whitepaper
should be used as a checklist to make sure you've considered as many of
the potential issues as possible. This process can be used for network,
applications development, Web, ecommerce or any other project.
Technology purchases are
highly risky. The products may or may not work as advertised, the
service providers may not have the expertise you need, or they may not
provide the level and quality of work that you desire. The vendors
may not be financially stable enough to stay with you for the life of the
technology. We try to address all of these problems, and more, in
this report.
You are looking for a technical
solution to a business problem. You are not looking for MORE problems.
You want to go home at 6pm instead of at 8pm. If the technology can
cut your hours in the office, it's great. But if it makes your life
miserable, something is wrong. This report can help you make better
purchases of technology and services and hopefully, go home at 5pm every
evening.
This report covers three
major sections:
General Concerns
These are problems that
involve the purchase of both products or services. They are general
in nature and apply to either category.
Products
Issues related solely to
the purchase of Information Technology products.
Services
How to get the best contractor
or consultant and manage them effectively.
When you sit down with a
representative from the vendor, take control of the meeting. This
is not what they want. They would prefer to be asking the questions
so that they understand the points of leverage that can be used to get
the deal. Instead, YOU should be asking questions. Explain
the process that you'll be going through to ensure that you have a successful
installation that will be of benefit to them as well. Discuss the
expectation for references and what you'll ask. Describe your plans
for a demo or pilot. If they're not qualified to do business with
you, you'll know by the deer-in-the-headlights look in their eyes.
Don't scare off all of your
vendors. But a good initial meeting can qualify the vendor for you,
weed out the pretenders, and help the remaining possibilities figure out
how best to meet your expectations.
Technology has costs - it
doesn't do everything the salesman says and the hassle costs are higher.
This report will help you get what you pay for.
Please
click here to download this valuable report in PDF format.
Price: FREE
Number of pages: 15
Print Date:
Jan 2000
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