By David Mitchell, Managing Consultant, Alsbridge, Inc.

You're ready to dip your toes into the IT sourcing waters. You've done your homework, developed your business case, and sold the idea to your senior executives. Now what? It's time to go to the market and start getting some quotes for services. But where and how do you start? Unfortunately, it's not nearly as easy as executing a commodity-based procurement program. There is still a lot of "art" to describing, providing and managing IT services, and therefore there are a lot of IT providers who will tell you they can do everything you want (hey, they have the slides to prove it!) and at the price you expect.

When it comes to provider selection, there are two primary keys to your success. First, you must effectively articulate the services you require in terms of service descriptions, roles/responsibilities, volumes, terms and conditions, and other components of a good Request for Proposal (RFP) document. This is of primary importance as it ensures that potential IT providers truly understand your requirements and submit their best solutions for you. I'll leave this topic alone for now, as volumes have been written about each component of an RFP. Instead, I'd like to focus a bit on the second key to success which is the need for an effective and efficient process that quickly gets you to the point of selecting a provider who is truly capable of delivering the services you need. As they say, "time is money." In the case of selecting a provider, the time you save in the process means that you get to contract quicker and start realizing on-going savings sooner.

This article will discuss the keys to successful provider selection, tips for efficient RFP evaluation, and 3 useful steps that will save you time in this selection process – after all, “time is money.”