The Rapid Application Selection Framework | Info-Tech Research Group

Selection takes forever. Traditional software selection drags on for years, sometimes in perpetuity.
IT is viewed as a bottleneck and the business has taken control of software selection.
“Gut feel” decisions rule the day. Intuition, not hard data, guides selection, leading to poor outcomes.
Negotiations are a losing battle. Money is left on the table by inexperienced negotiators.
Overall: Poor selection processes lead to wasted time, wasted effort, and applications that continually disappoint.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Adopt a formal methodology to accelerate and improve software selection results.
Improve business satisfaction by including the right stakeholders and delivering new applications on a truly timely basis.
Kill the “sacred cow” requirements that only exist because “it’s how we’ve always done it.”
Forget about “RFP” overload and hone in on the features that matter to your organization.
Skip the guesswork and validate decisions with real data.
Take control of vendor “dog and pony shows” with single-day, high-value, low-effort, rapid-fire investigative interviews.
Master vendor negotiations and never leave money on the table.

Impact and Result

Improving software selection is a critical project that will deliver huge value.

Hit a home run with your business stakeholders: use a data-driven approach to select the right application vendor for their needs – fast.
Shatter stakeholder expectations with truly rapid application selections.
Boost collaboration and crush the broken telephone with concise and effective stakeholder meetings.
Lock in hard savings and do not pay list price by using data-driven tactics.

The Rapid Application Selection Framework Research & Tools

1. The Rapid Application Selection Framework

A complete framework to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of software selection
All necessary training and tools for IT leaders and business stakeholders
Adopt this framework to:
- Improve the effectiveness of software selection.
- Reduce the time to select software.
- Reduce the cost of the applications you procure.

2. The Guide to Software Selection: A Business Stakeholder Manual

This guide has been built to share with your business leaders and stakeholders.
It provides a clear methodology that sets expectations with stakeholders and encourages them to uses software selection best practices to improve selection results.
This customizable guide helps you train and guide your business stakeholders as they participate in software selection projects.

3. The Software Selection Workbook

This critical template helps you capture and document your selection process and decisions.
This practical template streamlines your selection workflow and provides easy-to-follow guidelines with practical examples.
It is a reusable template for all of your software selection decisions.

4. Requirements Workbook

The Requirements Workbook provides a centralized document to record your key functional/non-functional use-case criteria and requirements needed for the prospective software or solution that your team is hoping to procure.

Please Note: This workbook is to be shared with the vendor upon finalization of its contents. It will serve as a guiding reference for the vendors during the demo process in tailoring the vendor's product demo based on the requirements documented within the workbook.

5. Vendor Evaluation Scorecard

The Vendor Evaluation Scorecard template provides a scorecard system for your team to score, rank, and compare your shortlist of vendors based on the level of fit with your requirements and use case criteria.

Member Testimonials

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.

9.2/10

Overall Impact

$41,989

Average $ Saved

23

Average Days Saved

Client

Experience

Impact

$ Saved

Days Saved

Testimonial

British Columbia Lottery Corporation

Guided Implementation

9/10

$2,000

5

It was quick and efficient as it both didn't take a lot of our time to explain the need and the results came back fairly quickly. No "worst' part t... Read More

East Penn Manufacturing Co.

Guided Implementation

8/10

$13,700

5

Very helpful & easy to work with. Also, very reactive...always got back to us in a timely manner. The suggested approach & vendor demo script he ... Read More

City of North Las Vegas

Guided Implementation

10/10

$34,250

75

Zoetis Inc.

Guided Implementation

7/10

N/A

N/A

Was a good overview of the RASF, but wasn't quite the detail we were looking for regarding PPM tools

Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc.

Guided Implementation

10/10

$28,085

12

It has been helpful to have the analyst provide templates and advice that keep our project team on track.

Curaleaf, Inc.

Guided Implementation

10/10

$34,250

20

Having a framework we can use is the best part.

The Huntington National Bank

Workshop

10/10

$68,500

10

The best part was the simple structure of the framework and focused discussions. The worst part was the vendor comparison discussion as it did not ... Read More

State of South Dakota Bureau of Information and Telecommunications

Workshop

10/10

$48,976

20

Kieran skillfully allowed the conversation to continue naturally and then bring us back to the agenda. We walked away with a lot of direction for t... Read More

The American Institute of Architects

Guided Implementation

10/10

$95,900

50

My experience is still ongoing. However, the best parts have been the resources and suggestions given by Yaz. The structure of the process is alr... Read More

ISSofBC

Guided Implementation

9/10

$10,000

20

The RASF methodology was very helpful. The guidance and support we received from Yaz and Ben was excellent.

Earlham College

Guided Implementation

9/10

$34,250

10

The Info-Tech analyst has moved us through the process quickly and efficiently. The analyst has also covered key points for us to consider and assi... Read More

Mountain Pacific Quality Health

Guided Implementation

10/10

$13,700

9

Yaz was professional and very detailed. Very satisfied.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Guided Implementation

10/10

$25,000

10

Overall, good engagement and the Info-Tech analyst understood the intent of the engagement and vendor analysis. The committed timeframe for deliver... Read More

Mencap

Guided Implementation

6/10

$3,249

2

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Guided Implementation

9/10

$10,000

10

Fuchs Lubricants Co., North America

Guided Implementation

9/10

$13,700

2

Royal Canadian Mint

Guided Implementation

8/10

$17,500

14

I like the engagement with Yaz they are very useful. Constructive criticism: A proper introduction at the beginning of the meetings in front ... Read More

Sun River Health

Guided Implementation

10/10

$37,675

120

eHealth Saskatchewan

Guided Implementation

8/10

$1,800

5

This indicated there was the material we needed available. Challenges scheduling.

Northeast Credit Union

Guided Implementation

10/10

$32,499

14

Thomas was knowledgeable and very helpful in narrowing the field of vendors to the 4-5 we should be concentrating on. He supplied us with a vendor... Read More

Royal Canadian Mint

Guided Implementation

8/10

$45,000

55

Hollister Incorporated

Workshop

10/10

$97,499

50

The workshop was well planned and executed. Tom was an excellent facilitator and the output has exceeded expectations.

Insearch Ltd.

Guided Implementation

9/10

$3,000

2

Thomas was extremely helpful and vast amount of knowledge

PowerNet Limited

Guided Implementation

9/10

$71,499

20

Rapid Application Selection Framework looks to be very good and the presentation by Thomas explained it well.

Massy Group

Guided Implementation

10/10

$11,699

18

Thomas is fabulous. His knowledge and experience shines through!

Bruce Power L P

Guided Implementation

8/10

$300K

20

Sai was great. Clearly explained the process and delivered when he said he would.

Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick

Guided Implementation

9/10

$10,000

10

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

90

James Cook University

Guided Implementation

9/10

$12,330

5

Erie 1 Board of Co-op Education Services

Guided Implementation

8/10

$2,599

2

The engagement provided information from the websites of vendors with the perspective of the analyst. It was advantageous to have conversations abo... Read More

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About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

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A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

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Authors

Ben Dickie

Samuel Leese

Search Code: 92816
Last Revised: May 26, 2020

TAGS:

Application Selection, Technology Selection, Rapid Application Selection, Rapid Selection, Small application selection, commodity applications, mid-tier applications, rasf

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