Software Evaluation and Selection

Accurately selecting the right major software system is one of the most important decisions an organization can make. TSI is a leading independent expert in this area. Consider TSI to be TSI your Next Generation Software Evaluation and Selection Expert. In any given year, we evaluate more ERP, CRM, Finance, SIS and other software products in a year than most do in their career.

What Is A Software Evaluation and Selection?

Having an independent expert to lead your software evaluation and selection is mission-critical in today’s complex technology landscape. These projects require far more than a simple feature comparison; they demand a proven process of defining requirements, identifying viable vendors, conducting rigorous and objective evaluations, and ultimately selecting the solution that best aligns with your organization’s strategic goals.

For most organizations and IT professionals, software evaluation and selection are infrequent initiatives – often undertaken only once every 7-10 years. In contrast, TSI is recognized as a true Software Evaluation and Selection Expert, completing these projects on a monthly basis. This depth of experience ensures that our clients benefit from current market knowledge, leading practices, and a streamlined, results-driven approach.

Unlike many consulting firms that accept commissions from software vendors, compromising the integrity of their recommendations, TSI is entirely independent. We have never received, and will never accept, any form of commission or compensation from software vendors. Notably, some firms that advertise themselves as independent do receive vendor commissions, which raises questions about their objectivity.

TSI stands apart as one of the only firms dedicated to providing unbiased, vendor-neutral assessments of your critical business, financial, and operational systems. Our independence ensures that our Software Evaluation and Selection services are driven solely by what is best for your organization. We collaborate closely with your stakeholders to evaluate software vendors thoroughly and select solutions that truly meet your business needs, operational requirements, and strategic priorities.

Our software evaluation and selection projects often include:

Why Work With Us?

Since TSI does not have software to sell or partnerships with software vendors, we remain unbiased and don’t have a conflict of interest to fabricate a business case involving the acquisition of software if tangible benefits don’t truly exist.

Defining what is truly needed to support the business now and in the future, as opposed to “bells and whistles” features, is often a complex task, even for those who are well-versed in their business. Additionally, there have been numerous mergers and acquisitions among software vendors, while others remain in a state of survival. These trends make the challenge of selecting the right software package even more daunting.

Our process is pragmatic, yet thorough. We help define the key scenarios that represent your unique and/or complex requirements and develop incisive questions that will help you differentiate vendor solutions.  We focus on how processes can be simplified, automated, or standardized and ensuring that complex processes can be supported through flexible, configurable, and integrated solutions. Our consultants will be with you every step of the way through your software evaluation and selection process.

See here for a case study about a recent software evaluation and selection project, or click here for more information on selecting the right software.

What We Do

Ultimately, TSI works closely with our clients to evaluate and select the right software product(s) for their organization. At times, our work starts with the need to define a business case, requirements, and evaluation criteria for a new system. This typically moves into developing a shortlist of the feasible software vendor and product options. Finally, TSI leads the proper review of the software vendor products so that a fact-based decision is made with input and buy-in from all parts of your organization.

Our clients tell us that we add value by making a complex topic digestible and easy to process.

TSI is ready to partner with your organization to assist with the following:

Foster Buy-In TSI will engage with subject matter experts and other staff at your organization throughout the process to build trust. 

Business Case TSI will help your organization develop a business case to justify the pursual and implementation of a new software solution. Our consultants will host voice of the constituent and constituent experience sessions to learn more about pain points and points of pride for your legacy system, and justify why the legacy system no longer fits your business needs.

Requirements Gathering Sessions Transforming Solutions has a set of boilerplate requirements that are used as a foundation for the system selection. We will then host requirements gathering sessions to gain insight into your organization’s unique desired functional and technical requirements that will help you meet your business needs. We also gather requirements during business process improvement sessions with stakeholders.

Business Process Improvement Sessions TSI will help map and analyze your current and future state business processes so that they are reflective of how you want your processes to function in the future using a new system. 

Developing Requests for Proposals TSI will help you develop a request for proposal that will encompass the desired project scope and requirements to meet your business objectives. We will help define evaluation criteria or a selection scorecard to ensure finalist vendors align with your organization’s mission and goals. TSI can also work with your organization’s procurement team to facilitate the selection process. 

Demonstration Narrative or Script Development TSI will assist in developing narratives of scripts for vendors to demonstrate their functionality that highlight critical operating scenarios. This will help stakeholders evaluate the functionality and user experience for a solution.

Evaluate Vendors Demonstrations TSI will help you analyze vendor responses and demonstrations so that you can select the software that is best for your organization. 

Contract Negotiation  Once a vendor or vendors are selected, TSI will help facilitate the contract negotiation process to ensure compliance. 

Implementation TSI will assist during the implementation phase, depending on your resources and needs, with project management, technical implementation, change management and use case/test case support.

Tools We Use