Due Diligence is an extremely important stage of the enterprise buying cycle. Especially if you are going to invest 10s and Thousands of Dollars in software implementation hours.
Most enterprises have a well-defined process for procuring enterprises software, but this process is not always followed while selecting the implementation services partner. Enterprises depend on the principal software vendor to recommend the implementation partner.
As the old adage goes ‘Any software is as good as what you plan to do with it’. Having a reliable implementation partner is extremely crucial to your ITSM project.
In this post we will look at 5 questions you should ask your ITSM Implementation Partner before making the purchase decision.
1. Who are your most valuable customers and why?
The objective of this question is to gauge the type of work the partner is delivering for its most valuable customer. It’s not always about renowned brands, logos and amount of billing the partner is doing with the said customer.
Is the work complex enough, are they making an impact to business, are they passionate enough about ITSM and do they understand the value they bring to people’s lives. These are questions you most probably want answers to.
2. Do you have customers/ projects you have delivered of similar size and industry as us?
There will be partners who are big in size and would have delivered 100s of projects, but that wouldn’t guarantee success of your ITSM program.
It is important to know the partners understanding of your business, fitment with your way of working and proven track record of delivering similar projects for other customers.
3. What is your crisis management process?
IT Projects will always have its highs and lows. Invariably projects will run into obstacles either financial, operational, integration related, tech related or time related.
How well is the partner prepared to overcome these obstacles will decide the fate of your project. Most matured ITSM partners have a well-defined crisis management process which helps them mitigate risks related to project delivery and sustainability.
Moreover, what you really want to know is whether the partner will stand by you during good and bad.
4. Reference Customers
This one is an absolute must.
Choose from the list of customers on their website or sales deck and ask them to schedule a call with you. If they are not able to arrange it at short notice, chances are things are not that well as you are made to believe.
Have an open conversation with their customer and try to understand the journey with the vendor, challenges, adaptability and reliability.
5. Team Skills & Competence
Lookup team members who will be working on your ITSM project. Interview them if needed, just to make sure you are in safe hands.
Though this is one of the important questions of your evaluation process, but should not be brought up until the fag end of the evaluation process. You dont want to be influenced by the charisma or technical brilliance of the team until you have made sure all the other boxes tick.
Final Word
Successful ITSM projects require much more than competent resources and fancy logos. Make sure you have the intangibles covered.
All the above questions will guide you not only on the competence of your ITSM partner but also their track record, continuity and preparedness to handle projects in diverse environments.
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