How to work out RFPs?
Definitely, it is challenging to determine a short list of IT companies to send RFPs (Request for Proposals); however, there are sources of information available that can facilitate this task like Gartner Research and the Distribution Software Guide from Brown Smith Wallace. The former provides access to various types of research documents to licensed users. Figure 1 shows the broad spectrum this company manages.
Figure 1 - Gartner Research Options
This analysis compares the information included in the Gartner’s ‘Magic Quadrants’ with the one found in Brown Smith Wallace’s “Distribution Software Guide”. Table 1 describes a brief overview from both companies, giving an entry point for the detailed analysis.
Table 1 – Gartner and Brown Smith Wallace Overview
There are many differences between them like size, type of company, and their approach to a benchmarking analysis. For example, BSW 2010 Software Distribution Guide included only eight WMS software vendors while Gartner Research 2010 WMS Magic Quadrant included nineteen, and strangely the two classified as ‘Leaders’ (RedPrairie WM/D & Manhattan Associates WMOS) in the latter, were absent in the former.
For this reason, this analysis utilized comparable tools from both sources and the same WMS software vendor was selected: Accelos. Figure 2 depicts a summary of the information found in the cited sources.
Figure 2 - Accelos WMS Benchmarking
Concluding, it is suggested that despite BSW presumed expertise in Distribution Software, the information they provide is limited to what a fact sheet can offer, being of little use to validate a short-list of software vendors for RFPs. In addition, the ‘Compare Features’ functionality found on their web site does not include Accellos as one of the solutions that can be compared giving this fact a sense of outdated data. In the other side, Gartner Research provides valuable information like explaining why the SW vendor was added to the ‘Visionary’ Magic Quadrant in 2010. Also, it gives a summary of Accellos’ Strengths and Cautions that should be taken in consideration for a RFP list.
