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Alan Pelz-Sharpe

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Picking the right supplier in a recession

12-Feb-2009

Tags: , Component Content Management, Digital and Media Asset Management, Document Management (ECM), E-mail Archiving and Management, Enterprise Collaboration & Social Software, Enterprise Search, Evaluating SharePoint, Portals and Content Integration, Web Analytics, Web Content Management, Marketplace at Large, Selecting Technology

"Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" -- so the saying goes. And in tough times there is without a shadow of a doubt, a tendency for procurement and IT buyers in general to lean heavily toward very large (or incumbent) vendors, on the assumption that they represent a lower risk. But consider the following examples, based on real vendors that we cover in one of our evaluation services:

    Vendor A:     Is a household name, one of the top IT companies in the world (not, in this case IBM). Yet this particular product set comes out of a division that is of little current interest to the mother ship. It gets limited funding, does not attract the best personnel and if it doesn't turn a more of a profit in the coming year it will be axed, and its products "sun-setted." As a buyer you will likely know none of that, what you will know is that when the vendor comes along and provides the dog & pony show, you will be dazzled by the scale and security of buying from household name "Vendor A."

    Vendor B:     Is a rising star, and in fact the larger analyst firms say that this firm currently leads the pack in their chosen field. However, despite their fame and current prominence in the industry they are yet to turn a real profit. Their private status masks the fact that they are heavily reliant on venture capital funding, and that their VC backers are keen to offload them whilst they remain popular.

  Vendor C:      Is a small firm with less than 100 employees, it is profitable and has no debt and is staffed by enthusiasts who are dedicated to the product and the vision of its creator. The firm though has limited resources to market itself, gets virtually no coverage from the large analyst firms and is unlikely, along with being somewhat unwilling, to grow substantially in the future.

Clearly all three vendors come with inherent risk, one can argue the merits of any one of them and indeed different buyers will have different views, assuming that is, that they have the full facts with which to come to a balanced conclusion. The difficulty that such buyers face is one of the key reasons they engage firms like CMS Watch to help in the decision-making process.  Though ultimately of course the decision though has to be yours alone.

So.....which one would you chose?