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Focus Research Insight: Comparable solutions, but different in cost. Why?
In a recent study, buyers who hadn't purchased cited their biggest hindrance as [trying to] compare solutions "apples to apples". Often buyers will shortlist down to 2-3 vendors and then stall while trying to compare pricing and all long term cost components. What the best way for you to really identify the differences; do you rely on your notes? Talking to other clients (user references) about their experience with the vendor? Reading 3rd party sites or industry publications? How (and when) do you feel confident you're getting the best value?
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3 Answers
Jessica the reality is that you own the responsibility for insuring the best solution at the right price. You'll never get multiple vendors to compare at an "apples to apples" level. Most all vendors will bury costs elsewhere, or they over or under engineer a solution, have higher day 2 costs, or are just sub par solutions with complex feature or administrative costs that you won't realize pre-sale. You really need to do your homework and research the industry trends and magazines for comparable tests. Don't ask the vendor for a list of references as they will only give you the one's they know will speak favorably. A better question to ask the vendor is to provide you with a list of customers that have migrated from one vendor to their solution. Be sure to ask all your vendors for this information as it will tend to yield better results in the long run. Good luck.
This is a tough one because there is rarely going to be an "apples to apples" solution among qualified vendors. If a VoIP/ Cloud Computing solution is properly scoped and the customer's needs TRULY assessed, differences in hardware, underlying network capabilities, scope of services offered, the customer's infrastructure, and several other factors come into play. The key is to look for a VoIP solution from an advisor you trust. If the solution you are reviewing was not carefully architected by experts who offered you several options and explained each thoroughly, then hold out until you find someone who brings insight and expertise to the equation.
Jessica,
The ability to obtain an apples-to-apples comparison is largely connected to the complexity of the solution being sought. For very simple problems, the overlap of features available vs business requirements is relatively straightforward, and so evaluation of options is easy.
For more complex problems such as server consolidation, cloud computing, unified communications, green initiatives, etc, the prevailing solutions have a broad set of features intended to cover the entire market. These features do not fully overlap across the different players in the market due to differences in philosophies and approaches.
It behooves the potential customer, then, to understand enough about his or her needs to be able to look at each solution and determine if enough of the business requirements are addressed, and if the particular combination of options is better than some other combination of pros and cons.
Organizations with insufficient knowledge of their problems and the market options will have the hardest time obtaining cost-effective solutions which suit their business.
-ASB: http://xeesm.com/AndrewBaker
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