How CFI accelerates vendor engagement for complex technology purchasing

Isabella Reinhart is a member of our Customer Success team and recently completed a successful Call for Innovation (CFI) on behalf of one of our Source clients to help go from a large set of options in a market landscape down to a short list the city could trial before making a final decision. 

Isa coordinated a CFI which led to a successful outcome. Here is an interview with Isabella and insights gained.  

In conjunction with the initial market analysis (also known as a Market Landscape), the CFI helps provide deeper market research by publishing specific questions via survey to vendors to gather case-specific feedback and more detailed product information. We caught up with Isa to learn more about the experience: 

Q: What was the topic of the recent CFI you published:

A: The customer was looking for an Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service (E-IPaaS).  This platform facilitates the sharing of structured and unstructured data between systems and integrates existing applications across an organization’s entire ecosystem without the need for writing complex code. 
 
Q: Why was a CFI used in this case? 

A: Upon initial review of vendor data, two critical decision elements could not be answered. The first was government specific references for the vendors.  While there were public case studies available via their website, it was unclear whether vendors had previous local government experience or if they had available cooperative or piggybackable contracts in place.  This was gained through the CFI. 

Second, the client has a unique tech stack currently deployed in their environment. It was critical at the evaluation stage to understand exactly whether the vendors could integrate with the existing stack out of the box or would require custom development, as this could later impact pricing structure and general feasibility of the project. 
 
Q: Were you able to accomplish your goals and how did you define success: 

A: The CFI was highly successful because the companies identified as leaders in the Market Landscape responded to the CFI with detailed answers.  This enabled the client to capture a more detailed understanding of the product offerings and to down select 2-3 best-fit vendors to move to the next step.

Q: And what is the next step? 

A: With their critical questions answered, the client will now move forward with demonstrations from each of the short list of vendors. From there, they will decide on a vendor to contract with and negotiate an agreement. Due to the CFI and cooperation with their procurement department, the market research suffices as an open evaluation; they are approved to move forward with a purchase without additional burdensome steps.  

Q: How long did the process take? 

A: While the client was very busy with a range of priorities, we were able to capture the requirements and publish the CFI after a total of 3 meetings along with documentation shared by the client. The entire process, including sufficient time for vendor response, took less than 100 days, effectively moving the ball forward and saving vital time and resources for the city. 

The Call for Innovation is open to all Source subscribers, reach out to subscribe@marketplace.city to learn more.