I advise companies to use this early stage to review the business processes being automated. Will the adoption of new technology alone make performance management more effective and efficient? Or will process changes be required? Organizations that perform a complete needs assessment and requirements analysis lower the risk of a costly change order during implementation.

Management consulting firms with a BPM focus can guide businesses through this early, critical stage of the purchase process and can introduce relevant best practices that must be achieved if the initiative is to be successful. The key skill sets to look for in a consulting firm for this phase are best practices, business guidance, and requirements analysis.

Vendor selection. Once the requirements are understood, the software vendor evaluation process can begin. Many organizations with seasoned CTOs, CIOs, or tech-savvy CFOs opt to undertake this process with little or no guidance from consultants. However, the BPM market is evolving (and consolidating) rapidly, so even executives who participated in an implementation two years ago will have to do considerable research to assess the plethora of solutions on the market today. Because each organization's unique needs and circumstances must influence its choice of system, no software evaluation service can standardize the selection process.

If a company chooses to do its own product research, vendor marketing can be confusing. For example, every vendor promotes the fact that its system works with Microsoft Excel. But companies must figure out: Does that mean the software integrates with Excel itself, or does the package merely provide an Excel-like interface? Does it have full Excel functionality or just a subset? Do the company's existing Excel models need to be rewritten to integrate with the new system? These nuances can dramatically affect a system's appropriateness for a given organization and its ultimate effectiveness in that company's environment.

Since BPM systems can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, selecting the wrong one can be a costly mistake. To perform a rigorous analysis, organizations should consider engaging a BPM consultant to develop or review their needs assessment, develop a detailed RFP that will generate meaningful responses, organize tailored and rigorous software demonstrations, and orchestrate the vendor scoring process.

Obviously, software products should not be considered in a vacuum. Companies need to weigh the implementation implications of their various options. Can the system be implemented and integrated cost-effectively? Will it provide maximum value -- both from a software and a process point of view? Is it scalable? Is management confident that changes in the business environment will have little or no effect on the vendor's future servicing of the solution? Once a prospective buyer has narrowed the choice to the best solutions, a consultant can help the company compare alternatives and negotiate the most favorable terms with the most suitable solution provider.