ICT Management. > Strategy & Planning

Choosing a Supplier

By Lasa Information Systems Team

Choosing a supplier is just as important as choosing the equipment. How do you go about it? This article provides some guidance.

In some cases, replacing a broken down machine, for example, you may have a clear idea of what you need and can order it from a reputable supplier without too much trouble.

For more complicated projects, like setting up a network or the installation of a database, you need to take time to think through what you want to do in order to be as sure as possible that the completed system will meet your needs. This can be a difficult and time consuming process, but the more work you do at this stage, on defining your requirements, the easier it will be to decide on the best technical solution.

What do you want to do?

Starting with what you want to do has the advantage of grounding the discussion of technical options in practical issues you can understand. You need to stay on your own territory, deal with your requirements, and not get immersed in technical details.

You are the expert on what you need, and your supplier is the expert on what they have to sell. Set out your requirements and let the technical expert come up with what they see as the best technical solution. Pages in the ICT Management section of the Knowledgebase go into more detail on this approach to IT decision making.

Although your requirements provide the starting point, you will inevitably need to develop some confidence in dealing with technical issues. You'll need to understand some of the jargon and also to get a feel for the technical possibilities. You will pick up a lot of technical knowledge as you go through the process of choosing a supplier, and you can also learn more about IT through taking advice and by using resources like this one.

On a larger project you could consider getting a consultant to help with the process. An experienced consultant will help you refine your ideas, assist with the tendering process, and should be able to offer some project management skills to help the process flow more easily. For more information see the Knowledgebase article Choosing and using consultants.

Requirements specification

You should draw up a specification for all IT purchase. This specification doesn't need to be a very elaborate document. In many cases a couple of sides of A4 will provide an excellent starting point. The specification should spell out your requirements in your own terms. Try to break down what you want into discrete elements so that you can compare what different suppliers have to offer.

You can use this specification to obtain at least three quotations from different suppliers. The process of getting quotations can be time consuming, but can also be used to learn an enormous amount about the alternative solutions on offer. This is the strength of the approach of spelling out your needs in your tender document: it allows suppliers to come up with their own alternative options to deliver a solution. You can then quiz the different suppliers about the strengths and weaknesses of their, and their competitors', options. You will probably refine your requirements specification as a result of these conversations. If one quote is a lot cheaper, do ask why, and ask the other bidders why they can't match the cheapest. But don't decide purely on price: a cheap quote could turn out to be the most expensive in the long run.

In choosing your supplier, you will in part be selecting the option they have on offer, but you will also, and perhaps more importantly, be choosing the people you want to do business with. If you're just buying a PC this may be less of an issue, but for a more substantial purchase the quality of ongoing after sales service and support will be the dominant factor.

If all goes well you'll be entering into a long-term relationship with the supplier. You'll be relying on them for support when things go wrong, and for guidance on future developments. This is an important relationship and you need to take care to choose a company who will provide a good long-term service.

Take up references!

Before appointing a supplier ask for and follow up references to satisfy yourself that your chosen supplier is solvent and can do the work you require.

This includes financial and accounting references especially if significant investment is required on your part. You want to be sure the supplier will still be around to complete the project. When taking up references from organisations that the supplier has previously worked with, make sure you ask some searching questions about their experience of working with the supplier:

What were the positive experiences? Were there any problems and if so how easy was it to resolve them? Is the organisation still using the supplier? Is there anything the organisation would have done differently? etc.

More information

There are several good general resources on choosing a consultant that are relevant here including:

• Institute of management consultancy - Choosing and using consultants
• Management Development Network - Choosing and briefing a management consultant or trainer
• Non Profit Services Consortium - How to choose a consultant and their detailed Insider’s Guide to Outside Advice – A Toolkit (PDF document requires Acrobat Reader - if you don't already have this installed download it free from Adobe)