Technology Supplier Evaluation and Selection Services

ARC Technology Supplier Evaluation and Selection process is specifically designed for technology as well as software users and acts as a selection guide for evaluating alternatives.  New digital transformation, Industry 4.0, and Industrial IoT-related technologies such as predictive analytics, wireless, additive manufacturing, cloud computing, mobility, and 3D visualization are beginning to disrupt and radically change the way industrial enterprises do business.  Departing from the characteristic conservatism of discrete and process industries, leading manufacturing companies now recognize that they must embrace new information and automation technologies to maintain a competitive edge.

Information and automation technologies will play a greater role in manufacturing production processes than in the past.  The goal is to increase productivity, flexibility, and responsiveness by automating all industrial processes that don't require human intervention and empowering humans with the timely, in-context information they need to improve performance on the plant or factory floor and manage the business.

Solutions That Accelerate Results (STAR) Technology Supplier Evaluation and Selection Service

What technologies should you adopt and what suppliers should you work with to help position your company to take advantage of the latest round of technology changes while prioritizing your investments wisely?  The ARC STAR (Solutions That Accelerate Results) tool for Technology and Supplier Evaluation & Selection is specifically designed for technology users and acts as a selection guide for evaluating alternatives.  Available for many technology domains, this comprehensive product will guide you through the complexities of a strategic decision in technology selection.  It can provide you with:

  • A proven evaluation process, saving you money and time
  • The best criteria to use for your process
  • A way to avoid conflict among your team
  • Research information - a library of selection guides are available
  • How to re-evaluate your existing suppliers to make sure they meet your changing needs

Maximum Payback from Your Investment in Technology & Software

Irving Pulp and Paper

Impartial, Fact-based Process for Technology and Software Supplier Selection

ARC STAR Service - Easy as 1-2-3

The ARC STAR Service delivers the tool, and can deliver ARC expertise.  The combination delivers information and a methodology that guides you though the entire selection process, introducing you to one step of the project after another, progressively disclosing more information to ensure your learning curve is minimal.  As you complete one step, the next one opens up.  You can always revisit past steps, review and improve past inputs or alter or improve your selection strategies.

Step 1: Define Your Project and Identify Your Team

The process begins with summarizing your project and defining your selection team.  This tool enables you to begin the process of sharing research, making sure your team in up to date with the latest industry and technology developments.  Every bit of information you enter into your custom ARC STAR Service will be saved on-line and available only to your team, and the ARC analysts assigned to assist you. 

Step 2: Identify Your Selection Criteria and Generate an RFI

This is where ARC domain experience begins to add value to your project.  ARC Analysts have been researching most technology topics for decades.  Based on this knowledge, ARC analysts have prepared comprehensive sets of criteria for many key topics to help you select the best solution available on the market. The selection criteria included with this service is a valuable starting point for your team.  You have the ability to review it, add to it or delete certain items that are not relevant to your project. 

Step 3: Weight the Criteria and Rate the Supplier Results

The most challenging aspect of any Supplier Selection process is making sure their solutions ideally meet your needs.  This means your team needs intimately understand your needs, and agree to their relative importance in your current and future scenario.  That alone is a monumental task that is fraught with confrontation, opinion, and emotion.  So, how do you handle this scientifically?  The ARC STAR Service manages the criteria weighting separately from the supplier ranking, and combines the two for final review and reporting at the end of the process.  It also includes a tool based on the Analytic Hierarchy Product (AHP), that can be applied to both the criteria weighting as well as the supplier rating.  This tool takes the variability out of the process, replacing it with a sound methodology that is applied equally and consistently by each member of the team.

Once the weighting and supplier results have been reviewed and properly tabulated, ARC STAR Service will provide an analysis based on Kepner-Tregoe® (KT) techniques.  This combines the data into a final score, by supplier, that is then used to generate the supplier rating.  In addition, you have the ability to review data at any time, and revisit decisions, viewing their impacts on the final outcome. 

Owens Corning

ARC Technology/Software Evaluation and Supplier Selection STAR Service Benefits

The ARC STAR Service is both a business process and a toolset that we have developed based on our experience executing dozens of supplier selection projects over the past 25 years.  It combines in-depth ARC research with specific selection criteria for each category of solution technology domain, and a consistent selection methodology to help ensure that you make the most informed decision possible.

The ARC STAR Service is delivered as a customer hosted Excel Workbook.  This solution leverages expertise you and your team already have.  The Workbook is automated through macros and, at the click of a button, will step you through the process of performing a supplier or solution selection with maximized quality and minimized effort.

A small investment in the ARC STAR Service will pay for itself with the savings in time during the selection process alone.  However, the real return on investment comes from selecting the right solution for your company.  You'll maximize your company's performance, agility, and competitiveness.  In summary, ARC STAR Service provides you many benefits including:

  1. Standardized Business Process
  2. High Quality Solution Selection Criteria
  3. Proven, Fact Based Analysis Tools
  4. Shorten Project Cycle Time and Save
  5. Create an Audit Trail

For more information, or to arrange a demo of this service, please contact us.

ARC offers a wide range of consulting services, see more at Consulting Services for Technology Users

Representative End User Clients