Intraprise simplifies software selection

IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC is the next evolution CPA firm focused on organizational development and technology management services for the middle market, nonprofits, and small businesses that “think big”. Founded over 15 years ago by Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA. 
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Intraprise TechKnowlogies in Summary
A CPA firm that specializes in organizational development and technology management.
With this description, all three intraprise elements are present:
Accounting = CPA firm: finance, governance, risk, and controls Information
Technology = technology management 
Human Resources = organizational development

We interviewed Morris Harris, director of mid market consulting at IntrapriseTechKnowlogies. Morris has a CPA background and recently obtained  PMP certification. Before working at IntrapriseTechKnowlogies, Morris worked at the AI CPA, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, as a program manager for the members specialization and credentials team, and later in the product management capacity for their member learning and competency team.

What was your software selection process before Olive?

I can probably boil that down into two words, Excel sheets. We would use everything, like a lot of companies. We use Microsoft Excel, to organize data analysis or data analytics, particularly when we're trying to get into kind of vendor solution comparisons. 

We were excited to learn how Olive could help us innovate. We've totally transitioned to using Olive for our submission requirements, identifying those requirements and getting the vendor input all into one app.

How has your technology evaluation process improved after implementing Olive?

It's dramatically simplifying things for us. For one, it standardized our selection process, made the selection process more collaborative between ourselves, the client as well as the solution providers. It provides us with documented consensus of the selection criteria. Ultimately it captures everything in a nice organized fashion, basically a one stop shop.
It was something that we were very open to trying out, and we've been very pleased with the results.We get the organized feedback that I'm looking for on solution requirements. This organized process allows us to use it for vendor selection, but also for some of our discovery as well. 

What advice would you give to other consultants and partners who may benefit from Olive?

If you're not using Olive for your vendor selection, or performing your client discovery, I would definitely suggest using this tool and adding it to your toolkit.

What features in Olive have impacted your process?

A few of the features come to mind. Olive has project templates within the app. If you don't necessarily know where to start, as far as identifying any kind of requirements for, for example, AARP solutions, or for CPM solutions, there are pre populated templates within the tool that you can actually leverage and then customize to fit your own project. 

Additionally, the requirements ranking and vendor solution comparison features. Those two immediately come to mind as well. Specifically the requirements ranking feature allows the client to actually go through prioritize where they see the different requirements. How [the client] ranks each requirement helps identify what is actually at the top of this ranking or what is actually lower tier, in terms of the vendor solution comparisons. 
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Also, it's just nice to have the responses that have been provided by the vendors, consolidated into one particular area, and to see the comparison of which vendors best meet those requirements, and which ones fall short.

Describe what it’s like working with the team at Olive?

It's been really awesome, they've been very supportive in training and orienting us as we learn on how to use the tool. Tariq has been very not only responsive in in addressing requests or responding to different questions I may have, but he also reaches out when occasion just just to do a little check to see how things are going and to basically see if we have any kind of questions that we'd like to pose regarding the other functionality of the tool. There has been innovative dialogue back and forth between our two organizations when utilizing the tool. So they've been absolutely outstanding to work with.

How would you feel if Olive disappeared tomorrow?

I would insist that somebody brings it back! I wouldn't want to go back to doing all that we're doing right now in Olive, in spreadsheets!
It's just simplified our vendor evaluation process tremendously, and we haven't had issues with clients using the tool to go through their requirements rankings, either.
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All the collaboration that we did in Olive, bringing  all parties together and making communications transparent within one app, has really been very helpful. So, if Olive was to disappear I would, I would definitely strongly request it be brought back!