Vendor Strengths Features and Functions

• No. of years in business


• Is the vendor a Parent or Subsidiary Company? What are the details of the vendor's parent and/or subsidiary companies? How much autonomy does the vendor have in deciding its direction and service / product offerings?


• What is the vendor's ownership structure? Is this a private or public company? What is the ownership distribution? Is there a likelihood of imminent change in this structure?


• Where are the Support locations and what are their zones of coverage?


• Market share.


• Size of customer base.


• Number of banks live with vendor's solution.


• Ranking by Industry Analysts


• Vendor financial viability and its ability to operate as a going concern. Vendor must possess a solid track record of providing its solution(s), profitable growth over at least each of the past five years, and financial control. Vendor must demonstrate stable and respected corporate leadership.


• Are there imminent risks to vendor's financial stability?


• Sales Turnover per year for last 5 years.


• Vendors yearly research and development budget, including number of dedicated product development staff. Target vendor should demonstrate significant dedicated product development staff, and focus on strategic direction of product and enhancements.


• Current Investment R&D v Profits.


• Does the Vendor have sufficient staff, given its customer support base, to provide the desired level of support?


• Is the vendor in partnership with other companies?


• Are the partnership other HR or Payroll products; which pro9vide solutions for some of their deficiencies


• Are there imminent risks of vendor acquiring or being acquired / merged with another company which may affect the viability and longevity of the product? Will the product line and support for it continue during or after merger / acquisition?


• Is the vendor planning to acquire rights to a competing product which may affect the direction, support and longevity of the product?


• Current or imminent litigation.


• Vendor reference client / implementation. Target vendor should produce referenceable client / implementation facing similar challenges and strategic direction.


• Depth, breadth, and availability/capacity of professional services staff dedicated to supporting the implementation of the vendor's solution. Target vendor should have substantial professional services staff dedicated to supporting the implementation of the proposed software solution in similar environments. Vendor should have experience in managing and supporting projects of similar size and complexity. Professional service organization should utilize standard and consistent implementation methodology, with the flexibility to adapt internal methodology to serve in a subcontractor role utilizing differing implementation methodologies.


• Description of vendor's QA / software release process, including use of user groups for new release enhancements, release frequency and process. Target vendor should have adequate processes in place to define future releases of software, including use of user group feedback. Target vendor should have a rigorous QA and release management process, including sustained release frequency and processes for addressing bugs / patches in a timely manner.


• Description of software vendor's implementation methodology. Target vendor should utilize standard and consistent implementation methodology, with the flexibility to adapt internal methodology to serve in a subcontractor role utilizing differing implementation methodologies. Vendor should demonstrate that this methodology has been utilized effectively in similar implementations.


• Does the vendor have an existing relationship with the banks?