Practical resources for software buyers.
The templates · calculators · and checklists our analyst team would use if they were buying software. Methodology-driven · free to download · independent.
Awareness
Frame the category.
Early research · category framing
Vendor Financial Stability Dashboard
Crunchbase + 10-K data dashboards for the major vendors we cover · helps procurement assess vendor financial risk.
Consideration
Evaluate vendors.
Vendor evaluation · demos · RFP
Enterprise Software RFP Template
Downloadable RFP template tailored for enterprise B2B software · covers AI capability, integration architecture, security, and TCO factors.
Vendor Comparison Matrix
Interactive matrix for side-by-side vendor evaluation across 10 dimensions · downloadable CSV + interactive widget.
Vendor Demo Question Checklist
25 critical questions to ask software vendors during demos · category-specific variants available for each of our 9 covered software categories.
Decision
Make the case.
Scoring · ROI · contract
Vendor Scoring Rubric
ESR's 10-criteria weighted scoring rubric · use it for vendor evaluation or to score your own RFP responses.
Software ROI Calculator
Interactive ROI model · inputs your organizational parameters · outputs 3-year ROI projection for a given software category.
Software TCO Calculator
Total Cost of Ownership calculator covering license · implementation · training · integration · maintenance · for any of our 9 covered categories.
Business Case Builder
Template + framework for building a CFO-ready business case for enterprise software investment · includes ROI · TCO · risk · strategic alignment.
SaaS Contract Red Flag Guide
Common contract red flags · SLA pitfalls · auto-renewal traps · data-portability concerns · informational only · not legal advice.
Implementation
Roll it out.
Rollout · change management
Implementation Readiness Checklist
Pre-purchase IT readiness audit · identify integration · data migration · and change-management risks before you sign.
Change Management Playbook
Adoption framework for enterprise software rollouts · stakeholder mapping · communication cadence · success-metric design.
Why we build this stuff.
Most enterprise software RFPs are still cobbled together from internal Confluence pages and PDFs that were last updated three procurement cycles ago. Most vendor demos still ask the same fifteen surface-level questions. Most ROI calculations are estimated on a whiteboard in a one-hour meeting.
We publish the toolkit because the work to do it well is repetitive and separable — every buyer in every category needs roughly the same RFP structure, scoring rubric, and TCO model. Once the structure is published with disclosed weights, you can spend the time on the parts of your evaluation that are actually specific to your organization.