Beautifully written! :) I love the part about analyzing the incentives for the partner to delivery a successful implementation. Make sure that a succes for the vendor is a succes for you. Unfortunately, some vendors are happy as long as the contract is not violated and it will stand up in court. Also, the RFX process is so devastating. The process is incentivising the vendors to oversell and under price. Not good at all for the project ahead. Instead, you should rely more heavily on client references. Now a days everybody knows someone - so call them! It's much stronger evidence than the sales pitch, and it favors the vendors who actually truly care about getting happy clients. Great article! /Jesper Refning, Managing Partner Daxiomatic