A pragmatic approach to a complex and ever-changing IT landscapes
Better processes for long-term investments in new technologies in a world where ROI is being increasingly scrutinised.
The challenge
The Hurlingham Club’s old Banqueting Event Order (BEO) management system had reached the product end of life and was programmatically retired by the vendor.
Given the criticality and wide-spread adoption of the system within the Club, it was decided that a new system should be in place months before the old solution was retired.
Key strategic objectives
- Act now or risk making decisions quickly without much planning and migration analysis
- Minimise disruption of key venue management operations and customer data
- Find a replacement that fits with the club current IT strategy and ecosystem
Our approach
Using a mix of Conduit existing processes and best practices we helped The Hurlingham Club to define, prioritise and document business needs and product specifications. We also helped the Club to develop suitable scoring methods to be used in the vendor selection phase, and supported the Club throughout the entire RFP process lifecycle.
Conduit main services included:
- Eliciting requirements through interviews, surveys and workshops.
- Documenting internal processes, issues and gaps, including required functional and non-functionals product specifications
- Organising RFI & RFP lifecycle and templates, together with RFIs, due diligence questions and communications
- Researching and auditing a comprehensive list of feasible products & vendors and matching them to IT specifications and business strategy
- Planning and managing the RFP process lifecycle, including handling of suppliers’ questionnaires and in- depth analysis needs
- Evaluating proposals and responses according to pre-developed scoring matrixes and evaluation criteria
- Supporting the Club during the due diligence process, including site visits and following up on references
- Attending vendors' demos and sales meetings
- Managing stakeholders throughout the entire bidding process and final vendor selection
- Assisting the Club in contract negotiations and high level planning for implementation
Key results
Conduit consulting approach and best practices allowed The Hurlingham Club to quickly reach a unilateral and well balanced decision on their long-term new software investment. With accurate planning and
documentation the process led to a smoother internal buy-in from multiple stakeholders and departments, and the successful realisation of all key business objectives.
Benefits
Slow down, to speed up!
Speeding up isn’t the answer when replacing critical systems. In fact, we find that if teams slow down to implement a good communication strategy, good project coordination together with a proven framework, they achieve their business objectives more quickly. Conduit and The Hurlingham Club successfully utilised the same approach also for the selection of the Club CRM & Membership system and learned that to achieve excellence we need to:
- Follow a cohesive, unified approach
- Minimise disruption of key venue management operations and customer data
- Find a replacement that fits with the club current IT strategy and ecosystem
