This article will be navigating the vendor selection process in IT Infrastructure Procurement.

Shortlisting vendors:

Once you start evaluating the proposals received from multiple vendors, shortlist the best out of them. You need to rank the candidates after an agreeable discussion with stakeholders. Sometimes you will experience an unpleasant atmosphere due to the disagreement among shareholders about the ranking of the candidates.  The organization’s employees deal with certain kinds of technology, which help to shortlist vendors who are a good fit. The project team and vendors need to work together, so do opt for a unique yet similar concern.

Demos of the product:

After shortlisting the eligible vendors among the total proposal, the demos of the product will begin. The shortlisted vendor can present their ideas for the product. The demos give the vendor a platform to propose solutions which will help to know whether the product/solution will work or not. The shareholder can work better on their decision with the help of this session as they can interact and clear their doubts.

A primary call and detailed demo:

Setting a primary conference call, followed by a detailed demo for the project manager and procurement team. The call is a confirmation of the proposal and its solution which will help to determine what both parties are looking for. The detailed demo will be presented before the project manager and procurement team. The demo needs to meet the expectation and requirements of the project. If the detailed demo session involves a mass number of shareholders, the vendor needs to use certain tactics to cover every department’s expectations. A personalized experience needs to be used during the demo session.

With the technical team arrange a dedicated technical demo:

The technical team is the backend of any organization, which glorifies the technical aspects of the product development process. A special dedicated technical demo for the technical team will help to evaluate whether the new technology introduced for the organization by the vendor can be operated smoothly. From a feasibility perspective, the technical demo is important. The IT infrastructure procurement will integrate whether the present technology infrastructure will fit as per the vendor’s idea. The technical teams usually actively participate throughout the demo by giving and challenging the opinions of the presenter.

Final note and finalizing the vendor:

Once all the demos are completed, now it is time to take the final call and select the best out of all vendors. The stakeholders need to jot down their observations for the finalizing process. Finalizing should be done, based on the solution to resolve the business problem and benefits during the procurement process. The preview version or dummy data to test the idea will explain and replicate the system working closely. Try to make the demo more realistic by providing the vendors with organization data and workflow problems. During the demo session, you can get an idea of whom to shortlist, this help during the final selection round. The final decision needs to be taken cautiously and precisely.

Hope so this article was productive, along with making it easy to understand and utilize the pointers, during the vendor selection in IT Infrastructure Procurement.

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