A common mistake with system, software and service procurement is to be too eager to find solutions within the organisation. Before tendering, it is important for an organisation to stop and think more carefully about what it wants now, and what it wants in the future. If these issues are not considered carefully enough, there is a risk that the investment will not be profitable and will result in minimal improvements over the past.
We have previously written on our blog about the problems a project manager solves in a project and why it is essential to make use of their skills. In this article, we explain why a skilled and experienced project manager is the key to a successful tender.
The project manager is able to identify the needs of the organisation at the initial stage of procurement through various means.
Before the procurement is put out to tender, the project manager organises a workshop within the organisation to review the current state of the company. The current state mapping exercise will go through what is being done, why it is being done and for whom it is being done.
Already at this stage it is good to think about how the project will be done: whether to use agile methods or a waterfall model, whether to go for a true DevOps model, where the same team that has developed the digital service also operates it after deployment. The mapping exercise will raise open questions that will be discussed together and solutions will be developed. From all this, the project manager will see if the company is sufficiently mature for the acquisition.
The Project Manager challenges in a convenient way
As an external expert, the project manager is able to bring an unbiased view of the current state of the organisation. As an external expert, he/she is also able to bring new perspectives to the procurement planning process. This enables the project manager to spar and challenge the organisation’s management in relation to their needs.
It is important that the project manager does not let the organisation’s management off the hook too easily, as this will prevent the customer from being misdirected with the procurement. On the other hand, the project manager needs a lot of support and information from the organisation in order to succeed in his task even before the project has started.
At the same time, the project manager can also ensure that the client has a good chance of success in the future, even if the project manager is no longer involved in the project. Based on the sparring between the project manager and the customer, all needs are recorded and the solutions developed are pruned, for example by means of a SWOT model, until the best solutions remain. It is also important to make sure that the procurement is not accidentally made too challenging, as the whole project can fall down on this as well.
Successful procurement with the help of Nextcon consultants
For software, systems and services procurement, it pays to rely on an expert consultant who can map the baseline situation, identify the needs and stakeholders involved in the procurement project, and understand the technologies and procurement procedures.
More cost-effective tendering with a project manager
On the cost side, the project manager can predict how expensive the purchase will be for the customer by looking at the size of the purchase. Once the project manager knows the size of one element of the procurement, he or she can give a rough estimate of how big the whole procurement will be, and roughly what it will cost the customer.
For this calculation, a project manager with a lot of experience is needed. If the project manager can calculate the amount of work needed for the procurement, and predict what problems the project may bring, the likelihood of a successful new procurement is much higher.
We offer project managers for tendering for system, software and service procurements
Our project management consultants have been involved in the development of Caruna’s electronic services and Visma Financial Solutions Oy has also trusted our expertise by selecting Nextcon as project manager for a system development project. Nextcon’s experts have also supported Mela in the tender and service package development, the tender process and the transition project.
Feel free to contact us if you are wondering whether a Nextcon project manager is right for your needs. We will be happy to help you find the right specialist.