Balanced Scorecard Software Selection
Independent advice that gets you off in the right direction. 

We provide independent advice on Balanced Scorecard software selection and implementation.

"The choice is very difficult.  We have two excellent solutions and suppliers, either of which we could work with, can afford and will be successful."
Client Project Team Leader faced with two supplier solutions that both scored 9.5/10.

"This was one of the fairest, clearest and best run software selection processes we have been through"
Losing software supplier in client selection process

We will not choose the software for you.  But, as you can see, we can manage the selection process to help you come to a decision that you are comfortable with and best suits your needs.  After all it is you who has to live with the solution.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. 

We are also concerned that you get all the other pieces in place that make software implementation successful.  Some thoughts to ponder:

• Are you freezing current practices or moving to best practice? Some organisations start with the software solution.  The danger is that this freezes and encodes your existing practices, ways of working and culture.  Alternatively, you can use it as an opportunity to break the mould.  It is your choice.

• Where will your information come from?  Good Balanced Scorecard implementations find only 30-50% of their data in existing computer systems.  Much of the customer and learning and growth information you need will not be in computer systems. Have you allowed for this?

• Are you representing your strategy? The weakest point of most "Balanced Scorecard" software implementations is their ability to present, navigate and drill through strategy maps and their

• Is this about moving forward, or diagnosing where you are?  Many organisations start to use MI and performance management software to get a grip on the business.  Later, they move to being more selective to drive behavioural change and performance.  You know where you are starting and where you want to end up, don't you?

• Are you re-inventing the wheel?  We rarely come across the need to do bespoke development nowadays.  There are over 50 products that claim to support the Balanced Scorecard (but do beware of such claims).  Some of the more suitable ones are certified by the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative. An Associate of ours was one of the team that advised software providers on certification.  What better recommendation could we have?

• What works well for Executives as well as cascading through the organisation? How do you accommodate the differing needs? 

• How do I integrate such tools with my existing IT architecture? Whilst most software tools provide ready implementation, there can be technical interface and implementation issues to solve.  We have partners that are really good at helping clients solve these sort of issues. 

• What is the best way to roll out such tools? You will need to be conscious that different ways of implementing such systems will affect the culture in different ways.  By being clear why performance management has not being so successful in the past, and how you will change that, you can ensure that your roll-out plan addresses the cultural and behavioural issues that have prevented success.  After all you want a successful implementation don't you?

As you can imagine, we have experience of a wide range of products and ways of implementing solutions. We can help you find the one that suits you best.