The time for new Electric Vehicle (EV) start-ups is now. While traditional OEMs are still shaping their portfolio to cover the mobility needs of the future, new players enter the market with innovative mobility offers. An ambitious newly founded Automotive manufacturer approached BCG Platinion with a bold mission: to begin the production and sale of electric vehicles in just three years.
With vehicle development and production proving challenging for even the most mature players, the client needed our strategic IT expertise. This dynamic greenfield OEM is based in the Middle East and aims to locally develop and manufacture premium EVs for the region. To help achieve this goal, BCG Platinion was tasked with identifying a Digital Partner, and in doing so, we redefined the selection process.
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.
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.
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.
Accelerated Vendor Selection Goes Beyond Automotive
BCG Platinion’s accelerated vendor selection approach demonstrated its value for the Automotive manufacturer, yet its application is industry-agnostic.
The results underscore the effectiveness of a client-specific and demo-based vendor evaluation methodology, in contrast to traditional methods.
By focusing on high-value software use cases and fostering continuous collaboration, BCG Platinion not only streamlined the selection process, but also ensured a more comprehensive and fair evaluation of competing partners.
The case study serves as a framework for companies seeking to navigate through similar critical missions. Connect with our BCG Platinion experts to jointly explore how our tailored methodology can benefit your company’s most precious projects.
About the Authors
Florian Hasibether
Associate DirectorCologne, Germany
Florian leads our regional Engineering & Manufacturing IT team in Europe. He supports clients on IT strategy definition and manages IT Architecture reviews in the Engineering and Manufacturing domain, enabling digital transformations. Florian is also a member of the leadership group of the Industrial Goods Practice Area.
Johannes Bücker
ManagerMunich, Germany
Johannes is an expert for Engineering and Manufacturing IT. He advises Automotive OEMs and Tier1 suppliers on challenges in end-to-end processes from design to build, and has deep expertise in the space of IT Strategy, Digital Twin and IT/OT transformations. He is a core member of BCG Platinion’s Industrial Goods Practice Area.
Luica Hemsing
Senior IT ConsultantNew York, USA
Luica is an expert in platform build and rollout, especially in the Manufacturing domain. By combining her expertise in large-scale transformation initiatives and emerging technologies, she has delivered product roadmaps, guided vendor selections, and planned IT solution rollouts. She has also successfully conducted tech diagnostics and developed IT strategies for various industry sectors.
Oliver Schwager
Managing DirectorMunich, Germany
Oliver is a Managing Director at BCG Platinion. He supports clients all around the globe when senior advice on ramping up and managing complex digital transformation initiatives is the key to success. With his extensive experience, he supports clients in their critical IT initiatives, ranging from designing and migrating to next-generation architectures up to transforming IT organizations to be ready for managing IT programs at scale in agile ways of working. He is part of the Industrial Goods leadership group with a passion for automotive & aviation.
