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Methodology
methodology
We help make challenging decisions easier.
Targeted initiatives implemented by small, strategic teams deliver faster results with less risk than massive transformations.
We fuse our tenured team’s deep industry knowledge with immersing ourselves as an extension of your team to understand your needs, and then leverage best of breed vendors and technologies that best meet your requirements though our vendor ecosystem.
Our technology advisor's methodology involves understanding business goals, assessing current tech, identifying improvement areas and future needs, creating a strategic roadmap for implementation, and fostering innovation through new technology adoption, all while ensuring compliance and offering proactive, value-driven guidance. The process is collaborative and data-driven, focused on strategic, long-term outcomes rather than just reactive problem-solving.
Collaborate with Portfolio to help define and prioritize requirements while we optimize researching, evaluating, and guidance selecting vendors and technologies that match your IT requirements. This methodology has yielded:
- 1000’s of projects completed over 20+ years
- Engagements yield 25%-35% savings, resulting in hundreds of millions saved over an average client tenure of 14-18 years.
- We understand how to bring infrastructure costs to less than 3% of top line revenue.
- We help ensure vendors selected by our clients can execute.
- Integrate disparate technologies into cohesive business solutions.
- Support long term value realization, renewals, and ongoing optimization.
- Higher ratio of infrastructure project completion
- Faster solution implementation timeline enabling quicker realization of outcomes.
Portfolio works with our clients to outline high-level strategic goals, key deliverables, and major work efforts on a set timeline to develop a roadmap for future service delivery to guide teams and stakeholders. Clear project goals will be established, major deliverables and milestones will be identified, and tasks will be created to estimate necessary time and resources. Dependencies will be identified and worked into the final timeline. Risks will be mitigated with our teams experience, identifying and navigating around known risk sources.
Key Steps in our Methodology
Strategic Alignment & Goal Identification
The advisor first works with the client to understand their overall business objectives and define what success looks like.
Current Technology Assessment
A thorough evaluation of the existing IT infrastructure and processes is conducted to pinpoint inefficiencies, gaps, and opportunities.
Future-Proofing & Roadmap Creation
Based on the assessment and goals, the advisor creates a data-driven strategic roadmap, outlining how technology can support future growth and innovation.
Solution & Technology Guidance
The advisor provides expert guidance on new technologies, services, and products that align with the business goals and offer a competitive advantage.
Proactive Innovation & Implementation
The methodology includes proactively introducing innovative solutions and managing their implementation, including necessary change management.
Ongoing Partnership & Support
Rather than handing off recommendations, the advisor acts as a strategic partner, continuously collaborating with the client, monitoring progress, and adjusting the strategy as needed.
Compliance and Security Assurance
Ensuring the implemented solutions meet industry regulations and security standards is a critical component.
methodology
Core Principles
- Data-Driven Approach: Decisions and recommendations are based on structured data analysis and transparent reporting.
- Collaborative Partnership: The advisor works closely with the client to tailor solutions to their specific context and needs.
- Strategic, Long-Term Focus: The goal is to provide guidance that supports long-term business objectives and future growth, not just immediate issues.
- Value-Based Approach: The methodology focuses on delivering tangible value and measurable outcomes tied to business performance.
We drive better business and IT outcomes
Break the tradition of asking for a new vendor to solve your incumbent vendor problems. Rising costs, technical debt, and increasing security risks are all making the job of IT nearly impossible without assistance.
IT buyers no longer have the time to research the market, understand options including fair rates, and set technology strategies while still maintaining operations. It is this change that created an industry of advisors to help.
Portfolio is one of the most respected, ethical, and well-known Technology Advisors in the country. This is reflected in numerous awards for excellence that are not achieved by sales, but by ease of partnering, managing to expected outcomes, and consistently executing.
As you explore the benefits of engaging with independent technology advisor to aid in your decisions, we recognize you are seeking more than a vendor, more than a broker, but a true advisor who has your best interest as their top priority. We will work to become a part of your team, not another vendor.
The best in the technology advisor does not find success by selling products to customers, but by partnering with customers and being on their team. Together with our customers, we forge a path through an every-changing and ever-challenging IT landscape. We hope to bring our 20+ years of experience to you and your team.
Tools & Processes
The use of insightful tools enable us to cross reference the results of our needs assessment with the vendors capabilities. This helps us match your requirements with the vendors that can best meet your needs.
We partner with over 500 curated vendors to collaborate to solve complex challenges. Our alliances with leading technology providers and our tools empower us to model which combination of vendors will deliver practical solutions to best meet your business and technology requirements.
Our partnerships will deliver immediate, tangible value…from optimizing operations to enhancing customer experiences, to reallocating savings to fund innovation.
These values our realized be co-creating with our clients. We listen to your challenges and goals…we problem solve alongside you. This collaboration ensures deliverables are aligned at each job step so the final solution actually meets your goals.
Weighted Requirements Assessment
We assemble a custom working document that reflects your top purchasing and technology requirements. Each requirement is weighed by your team.
Your top 5 down selected vendors and the scores your team allocates to each of them representing each requirement are displayed.
In real time, we model what results occur for the placement of the leading to last vendors scores by altering the weighting of requirements to stress test the resulting changes to which vendor places first, second, third, etc. enabling your team to validate their vendor selection.
Technology Solution Matrices
With 100’s of specific technology attributes on 1 axis and 100’s of vendors on the other axis, Portfolio can query which attributes or features are offered by any vendor leading to an efficient methodology to identify and down select relevant vendors based on clients requirements in each of these tech stacks:
- Security
- Cloud
- Mobility
- Contact Center
- SDWAN
- Network
A screen grab of a matrix that illustrates the results of multiple Contact Center requirements and the resulting vendors that match the queried requirements:
Another example of a Cloud matrix that reflecting the results of a query for a “Managed Service vendor that facilitate Public Cloud on ramps, multiple public cloud instances, a private cloud DRaaS service assembled all one invoice and one monitored via a single pane of glass.
Technology Assessments
We leverage in depth Solution Assessments to swiftly assist in discovery of your current environment covering Cybersecurity, Cloud, Contact Center, and AI.
Your answers generate personalized, specific advice, prioritize next steps, identify short comings, and
Vendor Stack Rankings
All of the due diligence, research, vendor requirement matching, etc. does not matter if the vendor cannot execute.
Portfolio accesses post sales experiences scored by:
- Project Managers
- Customer Success Managers
- Sales Engineers
- Customers
- Technical Account Managers
- Portfolio Team
The amalgamated scores over time yield a clear answer to which vendors consistently execute within each solution they deliver. This rich intelligence reflects the vendor’s product, support, and implementation maturity.
This directly influences the success of the project, avoiding or leading to:
- Loss of time
- Risk to production Environment
- Unrealized Revenue
- SLA Breaches
- Reputation
- Billing Disputes
The combined use of all of these tools and our methodology yields an efficient, defensible, due diligence engagement resulting in a stress tested, vendor & solution down selection and ultimate (multi) vendor recommendation.
- Technology Assessments
- Vendor Stack Rankings
- Solution Matrices
- Quote Matrices
- Weighted Vendor Requirements Survey
