Accelerated Digital Partner Selection for new Electric Vehicle Player

BCG Platinion’s Success Factors on Vendor Selection

Drawing from BCG Platinion’s rich expertise, we opted for an unconventional, accelerated vendor selection methodology. To put this into action, an iterative offer development methodology was implemented, and hands-on product demo workshops were conducted with the client team members. Vendors showcased their software capabilities during these sessions, detailing their tailored strategies for the Auto manufacturer.

These five key factors contributed to our success in selecting the right Digital Partner:

1. Align with the client team on the most crucial engineering and manufacturing capabilities, which the future Digital Partner’s solution supports, instead of allowing the partner to deploy their full solution portfolio

2. Identify high-value use cases and conduct demo-based product requirement workshops with all competing vendors. This accelerates the examination process, avoids a lengthy blueprint phase, and eliminates the need for extensive RFP documentation

3. ‘Stick with the standard’ and avoid building your engineers’ tech stack wish list, ensuring a lean and flexible IT architecture that serves business needs without deviating based on individual preferences of engineers.

‍4. Detail the best and final offer (BAFO) iteratively, with vendors parallel to the demo workshops to prevent loss of information. This also streamlines the time-consuming specification process before the final bid submission.

5. Use a clearly defined vendor evaluation framework to assess the functional, technical, and commercial components of each offer. As a result, multi-dimensional vendor ratings and procurement-compliant awarding are defined.

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BCG Platinion’s Accelerated Approach

BCG Platinion’s approach contrasts with traditional methods due to its strong focus on practical demos, rather than theoretical documentation. The team also prioritized speed to decision, as well as the overall quality of the vendor selection. This model allowed vendors to showcase the applicability of their solutions directly, rather than relying on generic software presentations. Leveraging real-world business scenarios and interactive workshops was crucial to the successful outcomes achieved.

Closely scheduled demo workshops with pre-selected vendors, paired with an iterative offer development approach, streamlined the traditionally lengthy RFP process. Leveraging BCG Platinion’s technical expertise and in-depth understanding of the client’s needs, we conducted a comprehensive vendor assessment. Our multi-dimensional vendor evaluation framework facilitated holistic and thorough analysis of the competing vendors. This led to clear comparability of the competing vendors, and ultimately, the selection of a partner optimally suited to the Automotive manufacturer’s specific requirements.

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Results of the 12-week Vendor Selection

BCG Platinion efficiently managed the full selection cycle, from defining best-practice business capabilities for Engineering and Manufacturing to contract negotiations, in just 12 weeks. Thus, we met the client’s urgent need for a Digital Partner covering the Design-through-Manufacturing software suite and award a vendor. Steering the selection from a process and technical perspective end-to-end, resulted in in-depth understanding of the competing vendors offering and supported negotiation to complete commercial alignments in time and on budget. Our expert team on-site driving the project at full speed stood out distinctly to the Automotive manufacturer’s CIO. All this was essential to safeguard the software implementation for the Engineers to kickstart their work and ultimately enable our client to become the first Automotive OEM in the region.

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