ShortlistMatch maintains a database of vendors in a given software category who service various industries, organization sizes, revenue bands, and needs. When a buyer completes a questionnaire, the ShortlistMatch matchmaking engine will compare those responses, along with the importance ratings, with vendor scores in the database.

This process is similar to online shopping platforms where “suggested products” are offered based on your purchase history and account profile. Using machine learning via OpenAI GPT-4, our scoring methodology is more nuanced than basic 1:1 data point matching.

Top-level software categories include a basket of acronyms such as CPM (Corporate Performance Management) which we cover today, HCM (Human Capital Management), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), PSA (Professional Services Automation) just to name a few. Within those categories are subcategories. For example, let’s look at subcategories in Corporate Performance Management: 
‍
- Budgeting 
- Forecasting 
- Financial Modeling 
- Financial Reporting 
- Consolidation and Close 
- Reconciliation 
‍
Each software category will contain subcategories, and each of those subcategories will contain a collection of requirements that matter to the buyer. Certain vendors will attempt to address all of them with a large footprint solution while others will address only one. 

At the current time we work with buyers searching for a Corporate Performance Management solution, i.e. Planning, Budgeting, Consolidations. Those buyer titles include CFO, CAO, Finance Director, Director of Financial Planning & Analysis, Senior Financial Analyst, Controller, Senior Accountant and other similar variations of Accounting and Finance staff. These buyers come from organizations big and small. We are able to match buyers with vendors appropriate to their scale.

When a buyer selects a final vendor, that vendor will pay ShortlistMatch a referral fee. As is standard in the business software world, this referral fee has no impact on the price that the buyer ultimately pays. This allows us to provide multiple options to our buyers with no obligation to favor any specific vendor.

We are strong believers that buyers should not need to rely on an external party to pick their solution for them. Buyers should participate in demos, ask their own questions, and score vendors according to their priorities. Our Demonstration Scorecard tool facilitates that without relying on a consultant to build requirements. This is thanks to RequirementPedia where anyone can view common software category requirements for free.

The first step in matchmaking is to complete our questionnaire. This allows the buyer to specify their needs and indicate the importance of specific requirements. These questions are tied to a database of vendors who are scored on the same criteria. We use those two inputs to output a score using our OpenAI GPT4 engine. This scoring is presented to you via our buyer portal, which can be shared with whom you see fit.

Our Demonstration Scorecards are more direct – buyers score specific requirements on a 1-5 scale for quality and importance. Weighted and un-weighted results are then consolidated for the entire team of evaluators.

No. We provide you with an email to your Vendor Shortlist report. After that, our system only sends emails that you trigger such as invites to a scorecard, or notifications that the scorecard has languished.

One of the reasons buyers work with us is to avoid just that, constant emails and calls from all the vendors they reached out to. This is why we strictly provide three vendors on the shortlist. This approach minimizes the follow-up by the vendors and declutters your inbox.

We can. Buyers may already be working with the right vendor, but are welcome to confirm that by going through the Vendor Shortlist questionnaire. If the buyer would prefer to confirm over the phone before completing the questionnaire, we are happy to meet and discuss requirements.

In most cases, yes. We maintain a list of vetted implementation providers that we can connect you with. The vendors will also be able to do that and will in some cases have an internal team that implements their product on behalf of customers. Be aware that some vendors will contract implementation and subsequently outsource that to a third party.

Vendor Shortlisting is the first step in the process. Via the ShortlistMatch questionnaire, the application will limit the buyers evaluation down to the top three vendors. Once complete, the buyer be introduced to these vendors. The questionnaire and notes will be shared with these vendors equally in order to reduce the amount of pre-demonstration conversations needed.  

The Demonstration Scorecard is a more detailed scoring process used by the buyer. This may include, at the buyers discretion, granular requirements that vendors are graded against by an entire team of buyers. These scores are aggregated and reported on after all demonstrations are complete. This is a far superior process to simply taking a vote at the end of demonstrations, or selecting the vendor based on emotion. 

We find that buyers prefer this process to a collection of Excel files which must be consolidated at the end of the demonstrations.

Vendors are scored according to the same questions that buyers ask in the questionnaire and by our internal written commentary and rankings. These scores are determined by first-hand experience, customer interviews, deep-dive demonstrations, and decades of experience in the specific software category. This differs from other scoring systems in that we do not rely exclusively on the vendor to provide information about their product and service.

Yes, ShortlistMatch has experience reviewing quotes from various vendors on the market. We are happy to give you advice on what terms to request, if you should demand additional discounts, and the right time to buy from a specific vendor.