# Selecting software: requirements, vendor comparison and rollout without data chaos > How a software selection succeeds: derive requirements from processes, make vendors comparable with your own script, review contracts, plan migration and secure adoption. URL: https://techport.ai/en/it-beratung/entwickeln-und-beschaffen/software-auswahl --- 1. [IT Consulting](/en/it-beratung)/ 2. [Build and Buy](/en/it-beratung/entwickeln-und-beschaffen)/ 3. Selecting and introducing software [Build and Buy](/en/it-beratung/entwickeln-und-beschaffen) · Focus topic # Selecting and introducing software By Redaktion techport.ai, IT-Beratung · Last updated on 21 August 2026 Most failed software introductions do not fail because of the software. They fail because the selection started with a vendor presentation instead of your own processes, because the data was migrated unchecked, and because after go-live nobody was responsible any more. Three years later a third of the functions are in use and the rest is subscription. Selecting a system is a process decision with technical consequences. If you know your own processes you can compare vendors. If you do not, you buy the best presentation. ## How you notice it * The requirements consist of a wish list without priority and without reference to a process. * Each vendor shows what they do best, and afterwards the decision is harder than before. * Reference customers were chosen by the vendor and report exclusively good things. * The last introduction took twice as long as planned and the data migration was the reason. ## Why this happens Software is rarely selected. The decision comes around every eight to twelve years, nobody in house has practice, and the market is hard to survey. Vendors are better in presentations than in operation, and the questions that matter later do not get asked because nobody knows they matter: about the data model, about extensibility, about the effort of updates, and about who can administer the system in house. ## How we go about it 1. **Derive requirements from processes.** We record the affected processes and derive requirements from them, weighted into must, should and could. Added to that are cross-cutting requirements: interfaces, permissions, data protection, multi-client capability, operating model, languages and accessibility. 2. **Narrow the market and make it comparable.** We select four to six systems that match your size, industry and requirements. Every vendor receives the same script with your workflows and an extract of your real data. What is shown counts, not what is promised. 3. **Decide and negotiate.** We assess against the criteria defined in advance, calculate cost across five years, hold reference calls with customers you choose, and review the contract for term, price adjustment, availability, release of data and exit. 4. **Introduce and anchor.** Data cleansing before migration, a test migration, training by role, go-live with heightened support. Afterwards the system gets a business owner in house and a plan for the functions that follow in wave two. ## What you gain * A system that carries your processes rather than processes that adapt to the system. * An introduction that stays on schedule because the data was checked beforehand. * A scoring matrix that keeps the decision justifiable two years later. ## From our projects Without your own script, the ranking of vendors after presentations almost always matches the quality of their sales teams. With a script and your own data the picture regularly reverses, because vendors stumble at exactly the points where daily work later happens. The second reliable finding concerns data volume: the number of active records to be migrated is almost always well below the number present. Clarifying that before the selection means negotiating over a realistic migration effort rather than over an estimate. ## Häufige Fragen Cloud or operation in our own house? For most mid-sized companies a service operated by the vendor is more economical, because operations, updates and legal adjustments sit there. What matters are the server location, the processing agreement, availability commitments and the release of data at the end of the contract. Arguments against external operation can be response time requirements in production or contractual stipulations from your customers. One system for everything or several specialist systems? A core system for the central processes and data, plus specialist systems only where the core system is clearly weaker, with properly documented interfaces. What matters is that one system stays authoritative per data object. Otherwise you end up with several truths again, only in a newer interface. ## Let us talk about Selecting and introducing software In a thirty minute first call we work out where your biggest lever sits and whether we are the right people for it. [Arrange an initial call](/en/kontakt)[Our software](/en/loesungen) ## Further reading [Build and BuyGathering requirements properlyHow wish lists become solid requirements: processes as the starting point, prioritisation into must and should, acceptance criteria and a way to handle changes during the project.](/en/it-beratung/entwickeln-und-beschaffen/anforderungsmanagement)[Rollout and ChangeData migration without surprisesWhy migrations delay projects and how to do it differently: analyse data before planning, cleanse with the departments, run several tests, set acceptance criteria and reconcile provably.](/en/it-beratung/einfuehren-und-veraendern/datenmigration)[IT Governance and ComplianceLicences and IT contractsCount licences correctly, review contracts on the points that count, prepare for vendor audits, cap price increases and agree an orderly exit.](/en/it-beratung/it-governance-und-recht/lizenzen-und-vertraege)[KnowledgeIT maturity checkKnow where your IT stands in ten minutes.](/en/it-beratung/reifegrad-check)[KnowledgeIT glossaryTerms from IT, software and security, briefly explained.](/en/it-beratung/glossar) Back to the field [Build and Buy](/en/it-beratung/entwickeln-und-beschaffen) Rt Written by [Redaktion techport.ai](/ueber-uns), IT-Beratung Mehr als 15 Jahre Erfahrung in IT-Projekten des Mittelstands, Auswahl und Einführung von Unternehmenssoftware, Aufbau von IT-Betrieb und Informationssicherheit in wachsenden Organisationen. [More about us](/en/ueber-uns) More from techport.ai [ Software Custom process software for mid-sized companies. ](/en/loesungen)[ HR consulting People processes and the systems behind them. ](/en/hr-beratung)[ IT maturity check Ten minutes to a clear position. ](/en/it-beratung/reifegrad-check)[ HR maturity check 24 statements, a result per field. ](/en/hr-beratung/reifegrad-check)[ Funding BAFA grant plus more than 50 programmes for delivery. ](/en/foerderung)[ Process in practice How workflows become reliable software. ](/en/sop-praxis)[ Data and AI Analysis, forecasts and assistance systems. ](/en/daten-ki)[ About us The people behind techport.ai. ](/en/ueber-uns)