Business Intelligence Software Development Services Market Procurement Intelligence Report

The market for Consultancy and its sub-segments such as Business Intelligence Software Development Services are at an interesting intersection. The market is rapidly showing signs of a great divide - at one extreme is a low-cost market with almost commoditized services and at the other end is the market for high cost specialized services. Business Intelligence Software Development Services vendors are adopting starkly different business models and cost structures in an effort to address both the markets.

Certain non-compliance scandals in the broader professional services industry has pushed both clients and suppliers to put in proper processes and protocols that reduce non-compliance, protect data and information and demonstrate ethical business practices.

Most clients now prefer splitting a single project among different vendors as it enables them to allocate parts of a project to specialized professional firms and keep the supplier base wide enough. Some clients adopt this strategy to understand the capability and performance of individual supplier and then pick one or a smaller set of suppliers for future contract opportunities.

Trends like these and many others discussed in this report are necessitating a relook at the way Business Intelligence Software Development Services is procured and the procurement cost saving opportunities that exist.

It has become imperative for category managers to remain as agile as possible in terms of their procurement practices. However, it is not always easy to quickly spot and implement alternative practices in a category like Business Intelligence Software Development Services. To help quick decision making, this report advises on several procurement best practices that have worked well for category managers.

For example, Buyers should invite bids from industry competitors to ensure that the offers they receive are competitive. Service providers may be willing to offer a multi-year engagement at a reduced fee, which can be beneficial for category buyers in the long-term.

Investing in benchmarking studies help category managers improve their knowledge on market pricing or billing rates of consultants by job role and function. This also allows them to save costs as well as negotiate better with service providers.

Adequate RFP response time should be built in for prospective suppliers to enable them understand the scope and performance requirements.

Business Intelligence Software Development Services procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Business Intelligence Software Development Services procurement. Some examples include: