RSI's CEO to Speak on ALPSP's RFP Panel this Wednesday

Posted by Sarah Silveri on Dec 8, 2015 9:26:27 AM

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RSI's CEO and Co-founder, Barry Bealer, will be one of nine speakers at ALPSP's seminar, "Cracking the RFP Code: Strategy & practical guidance for getting the most from RFPs" this Wednesday, December 9th in Philadelphia. Barry will be speaking from the view of a vendor and will be presenting real-world examples of different types of RFP's through brief case studies run by different types of organizations. Coverage will include technology-focused RFPs as well as RFPs for business services. Attention will be given to tips and best practices that will minimize risks and engender success.

 Through presentations, panel discussion, and audience Q&A, attendees will learn:

  • Key differences between RFQs, RFIs, and RFPs, and under what circumstances each is the right tool
  • When to use an RFP, and perhaps more important – when not to
  • The business drivers that lead to the RFP path
  • How to structure RFPs to be less cumbersome and to allow for agile decision making
  • Who to involve in the RFP process and decision making, and how to manage scope in a project team with different agendas and priorities
  • When to involve a consultant to help with RFP management
  • What to expect of vendors RFP bad habits to avoid How to create an RFP that focuses on what really matters to your organization and ensures you can differentiate between vendor offerings

The day will conclude with an audience-participation Q&A panel discussion representing views of publishers, vendors who receive RFPs, and the consultants who manage them, bringing a 360-degree view to the key issues raised during the day. Register now.

Topics: RFP selection, RFP, ALPSP, Seminar

CMS Supplier Dilemma: RFP Schedules

Posted by Barry Bealer on Jul 20, 2015 10:52:00 AM

RFP.jpgAs a supplier of software solutions and publishing automation tools we regularly receive Request for Information (RFI) or Request for Proposals (RFP).  In many cases there is an aggressive supplier schedule to return questions, then submit a final document.  Some are just ridiculously short periods of time to adequately digest the information and respond appropriately, but we try our best to showcase our knowledge and software capabilities.  After working long hours to address the short turnaround time, one of the following inevitably happens: 

  1. Schedule extended:  Solicitor received too many proposals and will need more time to review them.
  2. Vendor pushback:  Submission period is extended since some suppliers balked at the short timeline and the solicitor wants their bids.
  3. Mismanagement:  Nothing (worst case)

Lets look at each of these situations a bit more closely to get to the root cause of each one.

Scheduled extended – Many times a company has a template driven procurement process.  The procurement department forces the software vendor to adhere to the timeline without regard to complexity of solution or the number vendors being sent the RFP.  If there are only three vendors in a niche marketplace, procurement will still require the business sponsor to send the RFP to ten vendors regardless of their applicability to the actual project.  This happens over and over again when we receive Web Content Management RFPs when our software is classified as an Enterprise Content Management System.  With a little homework, the company looking for a solution can distinguish between the two, but in all fairness, some vendors blur the lines between solutions in their marketing speak to make their solution broader in capability then it truly is.  When the procuring business receives back way more responses than they anticipated, of course they are going to need more time to review each proposal.  Again, sending out an RFP to a large disparate group of software vendors is going to result in a large disparate group of RFP responses which then confuses the entire procurement process which leads to delays.  Think about receiving vendor proposals whose approach is to build from scratch versus vendor proposals that want to use best of breed tool integration versus vendor proposals listing third party systems that only require a little configuration.  Three valid types of responses, but very different RFP responses.  Confusion around solution approaches usually leads to procurement delays.

Vendor pushback – Let’s be honest, many companies have preferred vendors when they send out an RFP.  If those preferred vendors push back on the company because the timelines are just too short to respond, a miracle occurs and the deadline gets extended.  If the vendor is not on the preferred list, most likely the schedule will not be extended and the vendor will submit a basic response just to stay in the game.  Some organizations do however hold tight to the schedule regardless of how ridiculous the timelines for questions and RFP response truly are.  Those are the rules and its my game, so do as I say.  Unfortunately some very good vendors are weeded out when this happens because the procurement department is just too rigid.  There needs to be a give and take between the procuring business and the vendor.  Actually, realistic timelines would be most welcome.

Mismanagement – I could probably write an entire blog post about how poor some companies are with managing the RFP process.  In general, the process does not come second nature to anyone in the business and the procurement department is forcing the process onto the organization because that is their mandate from management.  In addition, many companies really don’t care about timelines after they receive RFP responses.  At that point, they have the information they need and will take whatever time THEY need to review the information and figure out next steps.  It always amazes me that suddenly when the RFP responses are turned in, a black hole appears and no communication comes out of the organization.  Timelines are missed by the procuring company, phone messages are left and follow-up emails are sent by the vendor…silence.  Miraculously communication picks up a month after the deadline to communicate to the vendors and now the procuring company has 100 questions that need to be answered in 48 hours or less.  And did I mention that if the procuring company actually read the RFP, the questions are answered in the text.  You see, most companies read the executive overview, look at the proposed implementation schedule, and obsess on the budget numbers.  The rest of the RPF response to them is filler.

There is no single way to fix the procurement process.  Some companies have a very good procurement process while others seem to do it to appease procurement and therefore really have no interest in following the process unless it is advantageous to them.  Let’s start by having both sides adhere to the timelines set forth in the RFP.  That includes final selection and start of the project.  All any vendor wants is a fair shot at winning the opportunity and having the procuring company live up to their side of the relationship.  

If you want to see why we receive RFPs for publishing automation solutions, register here to see a demo of RSuite®.

Schedule RSuite Demo

Topics: RSuite, RFP selection, RFP

Thanksgiving ranked in bottom half of American holidays

Posted by Christopher Hill on Nov 28, 2013 7:10:00 PM

If I was asked to design an A-list American holiday, I would never have come up with Thanksgiving. As a kid I enjoyed a few Thanksgiving dinner staples, but would have traded them for a trip to Dairy Queen in a heartbeat.

I’ve spent my share of Thanksgivings trying in one way or another to adhere to the holiday’s intended design, usually with the same cast of regulars from my daily life. 

On occasion I’ve celebrated the holiday in a house of strangers, save for the friend or two who dragged me along. One Thanksgiving I spent in The Hague, Netherlands, at a training course. I dined on my first Indonesian meal with my classmates, the only American at the table of near-strangers.

The Thanksgiving that gives me some of the warmest memories I spent alone in my room in a deserted dormitory in Minneapolis. How could a roast beef sandwich, fries and medium Coke be so memorable? The clerk who prepared it was friendly and wished me a happy Thanksgiving as I left with the bag of food. But when I discovered the promotional gold-rimmed holiday glass at the bottom of the bag - usually requiring an extra charge on a large soft drink - the clerk transformed the modest meal into a memorable feast. It remains one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories.

Something about Thanksgiving's design seems to work well even when circumstances would not seem conducive to a positive experience.

Thanksgiving's ability to create these strong feelings are not easily identified on paper. Imagine if it were invited to an RFP selection process:

Holiday Features Matrix

American Holiday rankings:

1 Christmas (38)
2 Easter (31)
3 New Year’s Day (28)
4 Independence Day (26)
5 Valentine's Day (25)
6 Thanksgiving (24)
7 Labor Day (19)
 8 Halloween (16) 

This isn't even close to how, outside of a feature matrix, I would rank the holidays. I suspect most Americans would say the same.

A number of assumptions are inherent in this type of ranking process that produces results incompatible with our actual experience.

Do all of these features have equal importance and rank?

If I don’t intend to eat candy or decorate my home in holiday lights, should I include these features “just in case” I might want to do that someday?

We forget that adding unwanted/unneeded features to our matrix might be detrimental. Imagine being the only person not in costume at a Halloween celebration or an atheist at an Easter service.

If I had put this scoring system into my RFP, Thanksgiving would not even rank in the top half of the holidays. It turns out that Thanksgiving’s subtle design choices are easy to overlook when insulated from any actual experience.

I know that regardless of how the food turns out this evening, today is already a highlight of my year as I reflect on the many personal and professional things I have to be thankful for. 

If today you are also celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope yours is happy and memorable too.

Topics: RFP selection, design, product management

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