My home page now includes a golden nugget I first heard 30 years ago at a quick printing...
Why Perform Vendor Risk Assessments?
In my 20 years as owner of a Managed IT Services firm, I haven't often seen marketing hype for Software as a Service solutions that matched reality after they've been implemented.
SaaS can be very beneficial to small organizations, but it didn't surprise me that Gartner found in its Digital Markets 2024 Tech Trends Survey that 60 percent of the respondents regretted at least one software purchase in the last 18 months and 54 percent regretted multiple software purchases in that period.
Worse, 59 percent of small businesses with fewer than 250 employees said the financial blow from their regrettable selections will negatively impact their companies long-term.
While respondents cited several reasons for their dissatisfaction, they boil down to one thing -- a likely failure to perform due diligence, such as Vendor Risk Assessments (VRAs), that go beyond the features and benefits of the SaaS solution.
The primary factors behind this swell of buyers' remorse?
- Higher than expected cost of ownership
- Slow or difficult implementation
- Problematic handoff between sales and implementation
- Mismanaged expectations
VRAs could have helped un-cover issues with each of those factors:
- Going through the Agreement with a fine-tooth comb would have revealed hidden costs and the costs of unanticipated outages, downtime and other technical problems
- Thorough testing in a 30-day trial by all departments would have shined a light on issues with implementation, training, the learning curve, glitches, bugs, and tech support response times
- Research conducted for the VRA process would have provided realistic expectations about the software and the vendors themselves
Remember, SaaS vendors will control the parts of your business that you entrust to them. You don't want an antagonistic relationship fueled by mis-matched corporate cultures, policies, lax support, trust issues, etc.
Vendor Risk Assessments that go beyond the software's compatibility with your organization, to the stability, reputation and corporate culture of prospective vendors, will result in the good working relationships required for such significant partners.
For help selecting your next SaaS solution or other products or services with a Vendor Risk Assessment, contact me at 302-537-4198, ericm@edminfopro.com or on our Contact form.
You can also request an online meeting.
