Track record of selection in large organisations

We have a 100% track record in helping large organisations find new and replacement packaged software.

We have helped many different organisations with package selection. Just a few examples are shown below. We have also worked with many smaller businesses, click here to see some examples. Click here to find out more about our approach to selection projects.

A national brewer

Following a major change in its business environment, the brewer was looking to replace its large suite of bespoke software with packaged software. The cost of running the in-house software was enormous. The brewer had already laid off many of its IT staff on the assumption that suitable software could be found quickly. We had to work fast, and the answer had to be right!

Within three months from the start of the project we had:

Assembled a core team of:
- senior people that could represent all the main areas of the business
- IT people with strong experience of the brewer's existing systems
- Consultants that could help with insights gained from similar businesses
Identified a long list of over 400 candidate suppliers
Whittled that down to a medium list of 30 suppliers
Used a simple process to whittle the medium list down to a short list of four
Produced a detailed description of the business and its key processes
Documented the key benefits the business was looking to achieve
Developed an agenda for a two-day presentation to be given by each shortlisted supplier designed to explore the areas likely to differentiate the suppliers and their offerings
Documented technical and commercial concerns and, in the process, set an upper limit to the cost of the candidate solutions
Briefed each supplier
Attended the suppler presentations and recorded the findings of each team member
Came to a consensus of the provisional winner
Bought the winner's solution in-house and ran a detailed series of tests designed to explore all its functionality against the original business description
Explored and resolved issues raised with over 150 people drawn from the business
Confirmed the selection

Two months later, the team had:

Completed the business case and obtained the written agreement of every board member to deliver their part of the identified benefits
Completed outline planning of the implementation process
Negotiated contracts
Started a company-wide education process

The first modules went live within 6 months. The entire replacement programme took less than 18 months.

And then we did it again!

The approach proved so successful we repeated for several other large companies and organisations including:

A national phamaceutical wholesaler. Our selection project was just one part of a programme of projects that resulted in dramatic cost reductions and substantial business growth.
The European businesses of a large record company. This time the impetus for our selection project was a desire to establish common processes and systems across Europe and all the subsidiary companies. Our approach to selection proved to be an excellent way to help build consensus over the new processes. The result was major cuts in cost through rationalisation and by implementing 'best of breed' processes across the entire business.
A national accounting firm comprising 14 offices all over the country. There were relatively few candidate solutions so arriving at a short list was very easy. The difficulty was distinguishing the benefits of the various candidates since each had different apparent strengths and weaknesses. The selection team particularly vaued the way we were able to help them to quickly understand the different products in sufficient detail to map each one against the benefits the business was looking for. The decision was still a difficult one, but the team was unanimous in agreeing the selected supplier especially after having gone through a detailed review with the provisionally-selected supplier. This echoed our view that you should not commit to a supplier until you are sure you have found a good solution.
A national charity. A complicated organisation comprising both support for the elderly and a diverse range of revenue generating activities. All these activities had to share a common accounting system which had to be capable of meeting:
- The needs of each operation (including a large publishing operation and a national retail chain)
- The needs of the charity as a whole
- Statutory and regulatory reporting needs
Our approach to selection provided a very helpful way to establish a consenus on the appropriate way forward even though no one person had a good overview of all the activities of the charity. It proved very easy to get to an agreement on the system to be implemented.
A public sector organisation. With a wide range of disjointed activities. The organisation did not have a strong IT function so our approach to selection - which puts non-IT managers in a position where they are happy to make a decision knowing it is the right one - went down particularly well. Again, the organisation found it easy to reach a consensus on the right system. The team particularly appreciated the way it was able to stick to the issues that were important to them without getting mired in technical ones.