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back to article Tell it to me straight, vendors: Are you cheap and easy?

Is it easy? Is is cheap? These are pretty much the only two questions which interest me when talking to a vendor these days – after years of worrying about technology. Of course, if I was to produce an RFP document with simply those two questions, I’d probably be out of a job fairly swiftly. But those two questions are not …

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  1. forn

    Allow me to rebut as a vendor

    If you need costs to be predictable and upfront, make your requirements and needs 100% crystal clear, rather than making them as vague as possible in the RFP and then trying to scope in the details at a later stage when you think the price has been set.

    If you need good answers to your questions, and good submissions for the RFP, don't set ridiculous deadlines to submit the RFP and related answers to questions. Also, be prepared to interact with vendors in a timely fashion as needed in order to clarify questions. And lastly on this topic: ask the right questions.

    And lastly, and this can't be said enough : cheap is not always cheaper. ;)

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  2. Ashton Black

    Not always the vendor. but sometimes is.

    Well said. Coming from a Defence IT background I can assure you a lot of cost overruns come from a bad set of requirements, granted, vaguely answered, but then shoehorning in changes, post contract signing. Trouble is, vendors know this and plan for it and some even bank on it, with, as forn said, "cheap" initial bids.

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  3. ang

    Pick two

    I'll make it easy for you. You can have it cheap, simple and good. Pick any two.

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  4. Nick Dyer

    Define cheap?

    The real question here is - what's cheap? If you're used to paying $500k for EMC Symms, then is $200k classed as cheap? Or are we in the ball park of $100k? $50k?

    What's cheap to one person in one sector, is wildly overpriced in another sector.

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  5. thegreatsatan

    There are no free lunches

    You can have it cheap or fast, you can't have both. There will be a breaking point, its up to you to figure out what is acceptable. I'll also throw out, one size doesnt fit all, especially with storage today.

    The adage of "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. I'm not saying rush out and pay 12k per TB for JBOD, but if there are features outside of what everyone offers and there is a price premium, to many shops that 12K is acceptable. It takes an incredible amount of R&D effort, time, and capital to bring a product to market. No one is in this business to lose money.

    I dont want cheap and easy. I want it to work.

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