Software Industry - Evaluating Software Vendors

Evaluating Software Vendors

When an organization is looking for software vendors, the following things can be considered.

1. Core competency of the vendor - For example, when an organization is looking for ERP implementation vendors it would certainly be beneficial to go for vendors who specialize in these projects. However, giant IT companies could be an exception as they specialize in multiple technologies.
2. Number of years in business - This helps organization understand the credibility of the business.
3. Stock market listing - Important if the size if the project is huge as a listed software vendor is more likely to have better governance processes
4. Overall and available vendor headcount - This can help organizations to decide how their resources requirements can be met by the software vendor.
5. Vendor credentials - The software vendor's prior experience in similar projects can increase the confidence of the organization
6. Industry Certifications/awards/Alliance partners - Industry recognition is another parameter for evaluating the software vendors
7. Local and global offices - While local office is important for any meetings, follow ups etc. global offices show the reach of the vendor
8. Project management/tracking processes - More robust the processes are, better will be quality of the software product
9. Lead times to start development - The vendor might have a lot of projects on hand already and it is important for an organization to know the lead times
10. Core solution and solution options - The software vendor should be made to make a presentation to showcase vendor's understanding of the requirements
11. Development time and costs - The estimates for efforts, resources, schedule and costs (includes fees and expenses)
12. Non functional requirements - The vendor's ability to meet non functional requirements
13. Warranty support agreements - For post production break fixes
14. Post go live - Maintenance activities support costs

These are just some of the typical parameters used for evaluating the software vendors for different projects. Depending on the specific project requirements, an organization can add/modify the parameters.