Procurement
Vendor selection fails when the RFP theater is mistaken for evidence. Argumont compares suppliers on total cost, switching difficulty, and whether claimed capab...
decision
Choose a vendor as if you will have to leave
Vendor selection is an operations and risk decision wearing a sales process. Argumont compares named vendors, including the incumbent and 'build a thin internal tool.'
What this decision type is
You are choosing a dependency. The question is not who presented well. It is who you can live with, measure, and leave.
Argumont stores options, claims, and scores so a later team can see why the contract was signed.
Common mistakes
Letting the vendor write the evaluation criteria. If their unique feature is the only heavily weighted item, you are not deciding. You are being decided.
Another mistake is ignoring data exit until the last week of legal review.
What evidence matters
Security reviews, implementation partners' honesty about overruns, and references that used the product in anger. Proof-of-concept success is still an estimate of production.
Example criteria
Fit to required workflows
The jobs the tool must do in month one.
Implementation risk
Overrun patterns and who actually implements.
Exit quality
Export, contract term, and switching labor.
Total cost
Including your people, not only their quote.
Common risks
Demo-led scoring
The evaluation never leaves the happy path.
Integration iceberg
The last 20% of integration is most of the cost.
Example decision
Pick vendor A, vendor B, or delay six months and keep spreadsheets. Delay can win if implementation would freeze a more important launch.
Related pages
Compare vendors
A vendor is a dependency you will operate, pay, and possibly sue. Argumont compares the shortlist, the incumbent, and delay.
Which vendor?
A vendor decision is not a beauty contest among decks. It is a bet on implementation, support, price after discount, and how painful it is to leave.
Compare options
When you already have two or more serious alternatives, Compare Options keeps the contest on criteria rather than on which story is more charismatic.
Decisions
These pages are not a directory of keywords. Each one describes a kind of choice, the evidence it needs, how Argumont scores it, and where to go next.
Compare your vendor shortlist
Argumont challenges assumptions, researches evidence, compares competing approaches, and identifies the strongest decision.
Compare your vendor shortlist