For teams
Procurement needs a contest that survives the demo
Procurement owns some of the most lasting decisions a company makes and receives the least thanks when they go well. A sourcing choice can lock in a cost, a dependency, and an exit penalty for years, and it is usually decided soon after the most rehearsed hour in the process: the demo.
Fix the weights before the demo
Agree what matters, and how much, before any vendor presents. Once the team has seen a polished demo, the weights drift toward whatever that vendor does well, and the comparison quietly becomes a confirmation.
A scorecard written in advance is the oldest defense procurement has, and it still works.
Renewal is a choice
Incumbents win by inertia, and many contracts renew themselves unless notice is given, often 30 to 90 days before the term ends. Put that date in the diary on the day the contract is signed. A renewal decided in the final week is a renewal decided by the vendor.
Staying, switching, and renegotiating are three separate options, and the third is the one most often skipped.
Total cost includes the way out
The yearly price is the visible part. Migration work, a period of paying for two systems, staff time to learn the new one, and the cost of leaving it later all belong in the total. Ask every vendor how a customer exports its data and what that costs; the answer says a good deal about the relationship.
A sourcing event in a Decision Room
Each option gets its own Champion, the incumbent included. The Challenger presses on implementation time and the exit terms. Gray Wolf hunts what the proposal hides: price escalators, minimum commitments, and the one integration the demo never showed. Diplomat maps who must sign, who will use the system daily, and who loses influence if it changes.
Inspector treats a demo as a claim about the product and marks it unverified until a reference customer or a trial confirms it.
Renew, switch, or renegotiate
An incumbent tool costs $180,000 a year, and the renewal notice proposes a 7 percent rise each year. Over three years that comes to about $619,000. A rival quotes $140,000 a year, flat, but switching adds $65,000 of migration work, three months of paying for both tools at about $48,000, and 400 hours of staff time at $95, about $38,000. The three-year total for switching is near $571,000, a saving of about $48,000, not the $120,000 a simple price comparison suggests. A third option asks the incumbent to cap rises at 3 percent: about $573,000 over three years, with no migration risk. The Verdict favors renegotiating, with the rival's quote on the table, and names what would flip it: a refusal from the incumbent, or a reference check confirming the rival's data export is clean.
Questions
- Can we use our own scoring template?
- Yes. Bring your criteria and weights; they must total 100 before the options are scored, so the weighting is settled before anyone sees a result.
- Who approves the award?
- Whoever your policy names. The Human Decision and the approvals are kept in the Decision Passport next to the Verdict, which gives audit a clear trail.
Further reading
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