Based on the Goals and Success Criteria, Invite a Few Vendors to Pilot

Based on the Goals and Success Criteria, Invite a Few Vendors to Pilot

Based on his requirements and well- padded timelines , Martin had a large field of possible vendors, which he eventually narrowed down to three. All three fit the charter well and could provide initial support for the POC. All three were relatively young companies in an emerging biometric marketplace . Martin figured the winner of the POC would be the company that performed better than the others when their technology failed.

Jason had a curve thrown at him. The additional requirement of replacing other passwords with a biometric was not expected. This now left Jason with a requirement for a biometric system that could both support digital certificates and replace Windows-based passwords. The choice of vendors was limited and, with the digital certificate deadline approaching, time was not a luxury he could afford. Jason needed to do a quick POC. He would have the vendors focus on the digital signatures and, if time permitted, test Windows passwords support.

The Methodology

If the charter of the POC group is clear, the number of vendors to consider should be greatly reduced. In a corporate environment, every biometric system vendor wants that next sale. To that end, the vendors will lobby for a chance to be a part of the POC. The vendor selection needs to be based on:

• The vendor's applicability to the charter ” This will normally be revealed when the charter is turned into a Request for Proposal, and after an examination of the vendors' responses. From these responses, the most promising vendors will be selected and invited to make oral presentations. The vendor that best articulates the ability to meet the charter and demonstrates knowledge of your company and industry should be considered .

• The vendor's ability to provide detailed support during all phases of the project ” Many companies are running lean and have employees doing multiple duties , in which case, a former vendor employee may not always be available. At the same time, as a potential customer, a company which pays for some consulting support or purchases a support plan shows that the enterprise is serious about the POC. Since this is a POC, it is proper to expect that a number of issues will be identified, and a level of commitment should be made by the vendor to support the company in its POC.

• The vendor's financial viability ” While the POC is for a limited period of time, the usable life of the biometric system may be in the three- to five-year timeframe. As was seen by the dot-com bust of a few years ago, long- term financial stability is important. For vendors that are public, it is easy to see what their financial viability is and what debt rating they carry. On the other hand, private or start-up companies may not have the same level of transparency as a public vendor. Therefore, it is important to vet their financial position as much as possible.

• Previous work done in the same industry ” While there are many similarities among industries, experience specific to your company's industry is always preferable. For example, the financial vertical will have different challenges and requirements than the healthcare industry. Having done work for other companies in the industry vertical, the project team can learn from the previous experiences of the selected vendor.

• High completion rate on sales ” Vendors will always be more than willing to talk about the sales they have made. What they do not offer freely is their completion rate. For example, early on in the biometric industry, one industry player claimed to have shipped tens to hundreds of thousands of units. When further investigation was done, it was found that the shipped units were sitting in a warehouse collecting dust. It is one thing to be able to sell a product, it is quite another to get it deployed. If the vendor tends to have lots of sales with a low deployment rate, then further due diligence is required. On the other hand, a high completion rate is a good indication of the quality of the biometric system its vendor.

• Willingness to work as part of the team ” Lately, there has been a recognition by both the vendor and the customer of the need to work together as part of the project team. The project team needs to be willing to accommodate the vendor in its groups and activities. Conversely, the vendor needs to provide dedicated resources in order to pull its weight as part of the team.

Using the above suggestions, vendors should be selected quickly, and expectations of the vendor's participation need to be set for both the vendor and the project team. Vendors who did not make the cut need to be thanked for their time and informed of not being selected. Such courtesy extended by the company should enable it to hire the vendors for possible future solutions, and it allows the vendors to move on to their next opportunity.