Software vendors negotiate these deals every day. Most companies do it once every several years.
PlatformIQ is a vendor evaluation toolkit. Your team uses its templates, scoring workbooks, and decision documents to compare software vendors on the same terms and pick one leadership can defend.
One toolkit for every software decision, from a company-wide ERP to a single team's e-signature tool.
Most companies give little thought to how they buy software until a purchase is already in motion.
A vendor has been calling for months and leadership wants a recommendation.
A core system contract is up for renewal and nobody has looked at what else is out there.
One department saw a great demo and now the whole company is expected to live with the choice.
The last platform cost more than the proposal said, and what the vendor promised was never in writing.
The vendor walks in with a process they have run hundreds of times. PlatformIQ gives you one before the first meeting.
Before and After
| Without a process | With PlatformIQ |
|---|---|
| The vendor with the best demo sets the agenda. | Every finalist answers the same structured questions. |
| The headline price is the number everyone remembers. | Multi-year cost modeled, probable and potential costs separated. |
| What the vendor promised lives in someone's notes. | Commitments documented in the vendor's own written responses. |
| One person decides and everyone else is asked to adopt it. | A small team scores independently, so no single voice carries it. |
| The recommendation is hard to explain if anyone asks. | An Executive Decision Brief shows how every vendor scored and why. |
Three Phases. Use What You Need.
Run all three for a major platform. Start at Phase 2 if you already have finalists, or go straight to Phase 3 for a renewal.
A short RFI goes to 5 to 8 vendors. Your team narrows the field to 3 finalists, and the Shortlist Memo puts the reasoning behind every cut on record.
Finalists complete the Vendor Response Workbook. The Evaluation Engine weights, scores, and ranks them. You set the weights. Vendors never see them.
After the contract is signed, the readiness guide and checklist prepare your team for the implementation.
The Executive Dashboard from a sample ERP evaluation. Keystone had the lowest sticker price, but once risk-weighted costs and expected variable costs are added in, Northline carries the lowest total exposure and the highest overall score. This is the comparison a headline price never shows.
Who It Is Built For
What You Produce
Two Ways to Use It
Both follow the same process and produce the same documents. The difference is who does the work.
Your team runs the evaluation using the full toolkit.
I run the evaluation from vendor screening through the Executive Decision Brief. Your team weighs in at the points that matter and makes the final call. Nobody on your staff has to carry it on top of their regular job.
If you are not sure whether to run it yourself or have me run it, send me a note about what you are evaluating and I will give you an honest answer.