Aquitude provides independent advice to clients and vendors during an RFP or Pitch process.
For Solution Buyers
We provide end to end consulting when it comes to helping you select technologies and partners.
- Project Setup – Goals, Objective setting, KPIs, Stakeholder engagement, governance.
- Requirements Gathering.
- Prioritisation, phasing, determination of Minimal Viable Product (MVP)
- Best Practice benchmarking. Analyst and Vendor relations.
- Customer research
- RFP documentation including selection criteria and weighted scorecards.
- Response evaluation and Shortlisting
For Vendors, System Integrators and Agencies
We help you win business by providing assistance with understanding buyers and brands including:
- Competitor Analysis and Industry Insights.
- Case Study Development
- Proposal Writing
- Mock Presentations and Simulation
Solution Specialities
We have in depth knowledge of the ecosystems and markets relating to:
- Ecommerce Platforms (Magento, Shopify, SAP Hybris, Demandware, Prestashop, Woo-Commerce, Ucommerce, Big Commerce)
- Ecommerce Service Providers (Payment Gateways, Hosting, Fulfillment, Email Service Providers, Personalisation and Recommendation Engines, Reviews and User Generated Content, Social Commerce, Search, Analytics, AB-Testing, PIM)
- Content Management – WCMS (Sitecore, Umbraco, Adobe Experience Manager, Episerver, Acquia, WordPress, Kentico)
Making Partnerships Happen
At Aquitude, we believe in partnerships. We believe that the language of ‘buyer’ and ‘seller’ is unnecessarily combative, creating a sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ that doesn’t make for productive long term relationships. Both sides of the table need to understand the concepts of value and Return on Investment rather than focus on short term price versus functionality equations.
With that in mind, an RFP should be conducted with a sense of transparency. It is in both parties interest for responding companies to have as much information as possible about requirements, priorities, phasing and budgets as well as business goals that are reliant upon technology solutions. Companies should be given time to create meaningful submissions, bearing in mind that many will need to consult with vendors on pricing.
Weighted Scorecards should be used to objectively assess responses. This practise allows the stakeholders of the business who originated the requirements to have as much influence over the decision as a commercial decision maker who is looking more at pricing.
Why not include an x-factor in your weighted score-card? This allows you to account for the intangible element of a proposal that you can’t quite put your finger on. It can be 2% of the overall score – because all decisions have an x-factor.
Don`t forget that people do business with people. If you are choosing to work with a company, make sure your cultures align. Can you work with these people all day, every day for 3 months or 6 months or 5 years? This isn`t buying a stapler or a printer cartridge, this is a business partner. Both sides should be motivated to work to achieve the same goals – and both make money.