Real Story: When the Runner-Up Wins

Welcome to RSG's latest "Real Story" case study about technology selection.

We once helped a large hospital select a new digital asset management system for their marketing images and collateral. After the vendor demo phase, the selection team identified two finalists, though Vendor A emerged as the clear leader at that point.

The team was tempted to just abandon the bake-off plan and simply start the implementation with Vendor A. However, in the interest of full due diligence, the hospital went ahead with two one-week bake-offs, their marketing, creative, and IT teams working side-by-side with each vendor’s implementation team.

Which Pie Is Better?

At the end of the bake-off, the hospital learned the following information:

  • While Vendor A’s user experience had dazzled them during the demos, for the hospital’s most common, workaday use case, Vendor B’s workflow and interface proved simpler to use for the marketing team
  • For the hospital’s most important content type (high-res photos), Vendor B was able to demonstrate much faster ingestion times
  • It increasingly dawned on the hospital that mobile access to the system would prove critical, yet certain key functionality was missing with Vendor A (This never came up in the demos)
  • When the marketing team reached out to each of the vendor’s help desks, Vendor A’s help desk never responded, while Vendor B’s responded immediately

As you can imagine, Vendor B won the deal, and the hospital went on to a successful deployment.

Final lesson: Try before you buy!

More Advice

Each of RSG's research streams includes sample scenarios for that particular technology.

For more selection tips and hard-hitting evaluations designed to help you select the right technology, start by downloading a complimentary vendor evaluation for any marketplace.


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"The Digital Asset Management Research is a straightforward, comprehensive report that's invaluable to anyone considering or implementing digital asset management. With a no-nonsense approach to evaluating the major vendors and best practices, this report is a true handbook. It's my new bedside reading..."


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