The two most important aspects of achieving a successful COTS implementation are:
- Choosing the right product
- Choosing the right vendor
Getting these choices correct can help avoid abysmal heartache and pain at a later stage. If assistant is required with making these decisions, then use consultants that have no direct financial involvement with the candidate vendors.
A. Choosing the right product
Remember that the COTS must be capable of supporting your;
- Current operational needs
- Medium term objectives, and
- Strategic direction
You will need to consider your corporate differentiators that maintain and increase your market share. To ensure that every present and future capability is considered, inputs should be sought from varying levels within the organisation. Each needs to be expressed in enough detail to facilitate the selection decision. A scoring approach is an effective way to compare products, such as using a spreadsheet based on the following algorithm:
| ID | Description | MoSCoW | Recommended Approach | Overall Score | ||
| A unique number to identify the business capability required | A short description of the capability | The relative importance of the capability | The recommended approach for implementation | Product of the MoSCoW and Approach scores | ||
| Importance | Score | Approach | Score | |||
| Must have | 4 | Standard capability | 3 | |||
| Should have | 3 | Process change required | 2 | |||
| Could have | 2 | Customisation | 1 | |||
| Would have | 1 | Not available | 0 | |||
Each proposed solution can be then objectively compared to each other. Although this tool can help select the right product, the final selection should be an executive decision.
It may well be that two or more solutions may be necessary to fulfil all the required capabilities, remember that it can often better to have two or more solutions that work well together and provide all the required capabilities well rather than a single solution that provides all the capabilities poorly.
B. Choosing the right vendor
The right choice of vendor is as important, often more than the choice of product, when choosing a vendor ensure that:
- The vendor has a track record of implementing solutions of comparable size and complexity in industries similar to your own
- You get to meet and question the actual resources that will be deployed on the project and not just ‘front men’ presented for sales presentations
- The resources that will work on your implementation have a direct reporting line to the accountable vendor otherwise you might just as well retain them directly and your lower costs
- Beware of choosing a vendor on the basis of ‘bigger is better’ or is a household name; smaller companies often are more committed to your success
- Be prepared to hire multiple vendors to cover the wide spectrum of skills required