
You can visit their website, read case studies, and refer to third-party websites to read unbiased vendor reviews.
Software selection decision matrix free#
Some vendors charge for these trainings while others offer free training or educational materials (such as how-to guides and video tutorials).įAQ: How can I do effective vendor research?Īnswer: There are many ways of doing vendor research.

Software selection decision matrix software#
Since software purchases are usually a long-term commitment, it’s best to take some time to thoroughly study the vendor. Selecting the right vendor is just as important as selecting a tool with robust technical capabilities. Select a vendor: pick a lasting partnership Do this for each tool to see how the final scores compare. Once you’ve arrived at the weighted score for each feature, add them to get the final score. Then score each tool on its individual features, on a scale of 1 to 5, and use this formula to generate a weighted score:įor example, if the tool scores 2 on Feature 1 and has a weight of 25 then the weighted score will be (25/5) x 2 = 10. The collective weight of all the features should sum up to 100. The more relevant the feature, the greater the weight. But it requires doing some math!Ĭreate a list of your must-have and nice-to-have features and assign weights (i.e., a numeric value) to each based on its relevance to your process. Your focus should be on trying to make the list as exhaustive as possible.įAQ: What is a software scorecard and how can it help me?Īnswer: A scorecard can help you quantify a tool’s capabilities and compare it with other options. It’s okay to dedicate a fair amount of time to this exercise as it lays the foundation for the next steps. You can also refer to third-party websites, such as ours, that list products based on user ratings. However, sorting through the numerous tools on the market to come up with an initial shortlist can be daunting.įor this, you can refer to research on top-ranking tools-our FrontRunners is one such report. Once you’re clear about the features you need, it’s time to start shortlisting the tools that meet your feature requirements. If we take the ecommerce software example, a compelling image gallery and editor, checkout system, and shopping cart module might be your “must-have” features, whereas an automatically adjusting webpage color scheme could be a “nice-to-have” feature. In addition to the “must-have” features, also create a list of the “nice-to-have” features. Identify “must-have” features: create your own yardstickĪfter clearly understanding the pain points the tool will address, jot down a list of features that might help cater to those needs. The idea is to establish a workflow, get approvals, and divide responsibilities. What is the timeline for the evaluation?.What all approvals are needed to get started?.If you wish to offer a better UX to your customers, you can look for tools that offer a gallery of predesigned templates, a compelling shopping cart module, and a smooth checkout experience.įAQ: What are the key things to consider before beginning the evaluation process?Īnswer: Some key things to consider before evaluating a tool are as follows:

Understanding the “why” will make it easier to identify “how” to eliminate the irrelevant options.

Since building such a strategy from scratch may seem like much effort, we’ve created a blueprint of this strategy for you.
