… and skipping any step breaks the strands that are necessary for success.

And the process is a lot more involved than most consultants or analysts believe it is. But first, let’s outline the steps the consultant or analyst has to walk through if they want to reverse the odds and give you an 80% chance of success vs. an 80% chance of failure.

1. Real Need Identification

We’ve all forgotten the wisdom of Richards and Jaggaer, and the realities of life. You Can’t Always Get What You Want but if you try sometimes you just might find that you get what you need. But you have to try. And so does any consultant or analyst who purports their desire to help you.

2. Holistic Solution Requirement Assessment

This is NOT technology. Not even close. This is identifying what results would define a solution, what processes would get you there, and what resources — people AND technology — are needed to get there.

3. Organizational Maturity

The solution has to be appropriate for the organizational, and technical, maturity of the organization. If someone has only ever ridden a horse to get from point A to point B, you can’t drop them in a Boeing 737 cockpit during mid-flight and say “good luck”. But that’s what happens in the vast majority of technology solution identifications and implementations — an organization running off of email, spreadsheets, and word documents is being told to upgrade to a modern best-of-breed AI-orchestrated source-to-settle platform with advanced optimization models, multi-stage analytics, twelve-step supplier onboarding and evaluation, 360 risk and compliance, multi-channel procurement, AI powered payments, and features with no apparent use. The solution has to be matched to the organizational capabilities with an future upgrade plan consistent with the rate the organization should be capable of maturing.

4. Vendor Pool Selection

The vendor pool has to be a set of vendors that meet all of the core requirements identified in the holistic solution requirement assessment, in a manner appropriate for the client’s organizational maturity. Clients should NEVER have to evaluate whether a vendor meets the core requirements, but how it meets the requirements; what should, nice-to, and value-add functions are included in their offering; and how they can effectively be a partner, and not just a provider, to your organization.

5. Vendor Assessment Process

A seven step process that centers the RFP and helps the client make the right selection.

6. Project Assurance

Processes that stop at the selection of the vendor can cut the chances of success in half. Implementors don’t understand how the conclusion was reached, vendors don’t understand the client’s unique situation, and neither are incentivized to ensure success. Independent, unbiased, project assurance is key.

7. Post Implementation Monitoring, Advisory, and Training

A successful implementation does not guarantee success — that requires adoption, continued utilization, and results. That might require training, that might require ongoing support, that might require additional advisory. There’s no success until an ROI is achieved.

Moreover, each of these steps needs to be powered by an appropriate model and methodology that is standardized, domain appropriate, and continually enhanced by firm knowledge and best practice. Not just a seat of your pants assessment entirely dependent on the individual’s knowledge and experience.

Furthermore, each of the models and methods used in each step has to build on the outputs of the models and methods of the last step so that each implementation requirement can be traced all the way back to a need and each need can be traced all the way forward to an implementation requirement. If you can’t trace complete “strands” from end-to-end, you can’t expect success.