Tuesday’s Tip: Vendor Selection - Deciphering Vendor Provided Customer References

As competition intensifies for new license deals and users are under pressure to be cautious with new spending, all parties should expect increasing pressure for quality customer references. Customers seeking references should focus on the following areas of relevance:

• Industry - expect to get down to the micro vertical level

• Market size - focus on number of employees and revenues
• Geographical - address local as well as global requirements
• Role - consider individuals in similar roles or account for different roles for a different perspective

Its customary for the vendor to provide their reference lists. Keep in mind, many of these references are receiving monetary and non-monetary favors for their time. For vendor supplied references, customers should ask seven key questions to gauge the motive and incentives of these references:

1. Did your organization conduct an open vendor selection process?
2. If you were not representing this vendor, which product would your organization have purchased?
3. Is your organization part of a vendor specific reference program?
4. Are you earning points or credits for other vendor related services such as training, conference passes, professional services, etc.?
5. Does your organization receive prioritized functionality requests?
6. Who is your executive sponsor? Is that person available to regular customers?
7. Have you received travel compensation for today’s activities?

The bottom line.

As an industry analyst, we often encounter vendor references that are genuine. However, from time to time, we have had to deal with vendor provided customer references who have vested and biased interests. In one MDM related example, 3 out of 5 of the vendor’s references did not conduct an open vendor selection process. 2 out of 5 vendors told us that the product was working well even though we had received inquiries to the contrary from other parts of their organization. It pays to do your due diligence. Make sure you understand what incentives and motivations are driving the reference to spend time talking with you.

Your POV.

Have you had a great vendor reference only to find out that the reference had stretched the truth? Feel free to share with me your experience. You can post here or send me a private email to rwang0@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2008 R Wang. All rights reserved.

Tuesday’s Tip: Master Data Management - Focus on the End in Mind

“Begin with the end in mind” is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.”

~ “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey

This Coveyism rings quite true especially with MDM deployments. Those seeking to innovate with MDM as opposed to just finish the job will find themselves asking key questions such as:

• For whom will this data be for? How will they use this information to take action?
• What’s the outcome? What are we trying to achieve?
• What will this information look like for another user?
• When does this question need to be answered by?
• How does this align with our business drivers?
• Where can we find the most accurate source?
• Why is this data important?

This “end in mind” reasoning then leads to the First and Second approach as Covey puts it:

• Mental creation. When beginning the design of an MDM project, focus on the result provides a design point to work backwards from and design role based scenarios. With those scenarios in hand, business process can be mapped back to the corresponding data.
• Physcial creation. With a solid blueprint in hand, the implementation teams can now test the scenarios. Assumptions about data integration, process integration, and strength of executive sponsorship will all be put to the test.

The bottom line.

The planning phase is a critical component of MDM. Successful projects often start with a detailed design process that asks the key questions with both a proactive data management focus and role based actionable insight approach. Successful project teams tailor design to how people are using the information. Build this Coveyism as a principle in your design phase and avoid the hassles of a failed MDM project.

Your POV.

I’d love to hear your lessons learned. Feel free to share with me your MDM implementation story. You can post here or sending me a private email to rwang0@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2008 R Wang. All rights reserved.