First, you will want to check the vendor’s impeccable track record. You may obtain this information by looking at the customer base published on the vendor’s web site and by directly contacting relevant customers, if you wish.
You should attend a product demonstration (demo) to grasp some features and get a first impression of the product capabilities, but you must bear in mind that demos are a short-cut in many ways and therefore are not accurate representations of the product performance when used in real life.
1. Ask each one of the possible vendors to develop a real process you already use or would like to use in your company.
2. Select a short but complex process, not just a simple approval circuit. For instance, a process with human and system tasks, that handles multi-register data with distributed treatments and includes the integration of independent business rules that can be changed at any time without touching the process model. This process should also include documents that are generated and modified automatically according to the changing data and situation of the process, with the automatic insertion of digital signatures. All this with the direct participation of, not only employees, but also customers and/or suppliers as process task performers.
If the proposed BPM is powerful enough and DOESN’T REQUIRE PROGRAMMING to convert the model into an executable process, the manufacturer (or agent) can finish the requested process in just a few days making it ready for real life execution in your company.
Note. When companies asked for a real process to be developed and to see it in execution before making the purchase, AURA was the one and only vendor that delivered the complete solution on time. This is one reason why many companies have preferred to sign a contract with AURA rather than with other vendors.