Vendor Selection Part 1
Prospecting: Getting Started
Nicole Burgess
Vendor selection: it can start in a rush of gold fever – the excitement of discovering the next best thing. That excitement, however, can soon feel like a daunting endeavor. Sourcing a new MarTech platform (such as a DAM) is no small journey. You may find yourself in a constant quandary, asking questions such as:
What is it, that I’m looking for exactly?
How do I know if I’m looking in the right places?
Who makes the first move?
What should I ask a vendor, to prove they’re up for the task of supporting my organization?
Let’s use DAM (Digital Asset Management) as an example, though the principles and process can be extrapolated into most vendor selection projects.
The DAM space is flooded with golden opportunities when it comes to finding a system to manage your assets. This is an area where Salt Flats has abundant knowledge and experience. If you find yourself feeling underwater, understaffed, or underwhelmed with what you’re seeing, send us a message and let us know how we can support you in finding a system worth its weight in gold.
Where to Start
To start off, you need to get clear on your users, your needs, and your goals.
Users
Just like the price of gold, your users are what give your DAM its value. Whether they will ascribe data, create assets, or utilize assets, get them in a room and give them the platform to talk. Ask them about their pain points and their blue sky wants. You’ll find that some of your future/current users will open up and others won’t have the slightest clue as to what a DAM can do for them. This is where it gets a little tricky because you don’t want to lead with your bias, but you will need to provide some amount of education into what a DAM does and some features that may relate to their role in the company.
Remember: technology should make your users’ day-to-day easier. Don’t sacrifice current efficiencies or ease for complicated technology because it seems like a shiny idea on the surface.
Answer these questions:
Who will be utilizing the system? Which teams/departments?
How are they currently working?
What could be improved by the addition of a DAM?
Who will be adding assets, managing the metadata and admin functions, searching and downloading?
What tasks take the most time for your users?
Where do you see the most errors in your processes?
Some of your users will have a higher stake in the prospecting of a future DAM. These are your power users. You’ll want to keep them apprised of the progress along the way and consider including them in the demos of the RFI/RFP process. Part 2 of this series will have more details on how to go about the RFI/RFP process.
Needs
Once you know where the value is, you’ll have a direction for your prospecting. Now you can begin to craft the use cases of what will happen in the DAM and the list of requirements for your future system. This list becomes the base for your RFI (request for information).
Answer these questions:
What technological features do your users need to function efficiently?
Are you video heavy, image heavy, or brand assets only?
What kind of assets do you work with primarily?
How much storage space do you need now?
What is the rate of growth for your volume of assets?
Do you have limited staff and want to supplement metadata with AI tagging?
Do you need to tie product data to photos for your consumer-packaged goods?
Do you need workflow capabilities within the DAM?
What other systems do your users interact with? Would integrations between those systems and the DAM aid your users?
Then, add ‘nice-to-have’ features that would further utilize the capabilities of the DAM. Don’t forget to include company requirements – these will come from IT, procurement, and/or senior leadership.
TIP: Consider scoring each item as either required or nice-to-have, but you don’t need to share that with the vendors in the first round.
Goals
Are you trying to solve workflow inefficiencies by upping your collaboration game? Perhaps your brand consistency has gone haywire because the templates are too hard to find. Or maybe you want your staff to spend less time searching for the latest version and more time creating amazing new content. The more bang for your buck on assets created, the more you can lean on your staff to do the brilliant work you hired them to do.
By now, you’ve got a good overview of your organization’s workflows, requirements, and areas for improvement. What you’re aiming for will determine not only the class of DAM but also your success metric for the DAM implementation. Your reason for being out here in the muck, panning for that golden nugget of opportunity that will change your life, is what will drive you toward your good fortune. Maybe it’s not gold (DAM) you’re after, but silver (MAM), or copper (PIM). Setting your goals will also help you maintain course and recognize fool’s gold when you see it.
Answer these questions:
What is your largest pain point?
What inefficiencies exist that technology (not process or people) could solve?
Where do you have silos that should be bridged or consolidated?
What’s Next
With this information, you can now begin the RFI/RFP process of panning for the right vendor. Your goals become your success metrics, your needs become your requirements list, and your users become your champions.
How this shakes out will be covered in part 2 of this series – Panning for Gold: The RFP Process.
Looking to learn more about DAM? Join us at our DAM Drinks event on June 14th, or reach out to us here!