In this series, I will share tips that I have learned from working with dozens of agencies as they evaluate solutions, which  will in turn help your organization be better prepared and enhance your experience of implementing a new Permitting and Licensing system. Check out my other posts on the topic by clicking on my profile.

 

Procuring:   Getting the Most Value For Your Investment

Deciding to modernize your permitting and licensing system can be a significant investment.  In order to maximize the value of that investment, below are a few tips to follow and guide customers during the procurement process:

 

  1. More Precise Scope Means More Precise Costs: There are a number of key inputs that drive the scope of a project, which in turn affects both the software licensing costs and implementation costs.  Often times organizations are aware of these inputs but miss the mark on providing the data vendors need to give precise cost estimates.  As a result, vendors may include “risk” as part of their cost calculations.  Customers can mitigate this by ensuring vendors have a more precise scope for calculating costs, for example:

     

  2. Focus on the Value of a Product:  Often times customers assess the “fit” of a software product solely by it’s ability to meet requirements.  This isn’t to say that asking vendors to complete a requirements matrix is a bad thing – it is not – but relying only on this sort of quantitative analysis will not tell you the whole story about a product.  Customers should ask vendors to describe how a product will help meet their short- and long-term goals.  For example, how does the offered product:
    1. Reduce administrative and customer service burden on staff, and allow them to focus on their core responsibilities;
    2. Provide a positive user experience and promote customer satisfaction;Ensure agencies are not losing revenue due to outdated process and fees for services;
    3. Allow your organization to adapt quickly to change, and adjust from a posture of being reactive to being proactive;
    4. Position our organization to adopt and use new and emerging technologies;
  3. Understand Who You Are Dealing With:  Most vendors in the permitting and licensing market can’t go it alone.  They often rely on third-party vendors for hosting or infrastructure services, reporting and analytics tools, or modern technologies such as chatbots and AI.  With vendors where this is the case, it makes vendor management more complicated and has likely inflated the cost of the product they are offering.  As part of the procurement process, make sure to ask what vendors directly and indirectly contribute to a product being offered, and what other products are either required or recommended in order to have an optimal experience with a product.

 

Here’s what I recommend…

At the end of the day, both government organizations and the vendor community want the same thing from each other:  a good partner, a positive experience, and for both parties to feel that they received fair value (or better!) for the products and services provided.  Understanding the scope of work, what’s being procured, the costs for the products and services, and the value provided by the vendor all starts in the procurement process.  So it is critical that agencies and vendors have open (and sometimes difficult) conversations to ensure both parties find that value when deciding to work together.

 

Learn More

Modern cloud technology solutions can help public-sector organizations overcome many of the challenges they face. By migrating to the cloud with Oracle Permitting and Licensing, organizations can embrace innovation and push the limits of what their employees and constituents have come to expect from their government.  Oracle is partnering  with government organizations on their journey to the cloud, so  discover more about our solution  here.