Logo

Choosing with confidence:  Selecting the right technology and partners

Learning Programme: Part 2

Every integration comes with promises of simplicity, every roadmap seems flexible, and every demo is seamless. The challenge of technology selection isn’t finding options; it’s knowing which questions to ask, and how to evaluate what you hear against what your organisation actually needs.

September 30, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Partner Selection
Requirements Gathering
Membership
Charity
Strategy
Abstract graphic with person

Our speakers

David Mountford headshot

David Mountford

The British Equine Veterinary Association 

Chief Executive Officer

Dean Terry headshot

Dean Terry

Cantarus

Co-Founder, Technical Director

Joyce Harmon

Hart Square

Head of Client Services

Alan Perestrello

Hart Square

Managing Director

The foundation of a good selection process is a clear, structured set of requirements: a complete picture of what your organisation needs technology to do, gathered from across the business and prioritised before you speak to a single supplier.

For this session, we're joined by two guests from opposite sides of a procurement process: Dean Terry, Co-Founder and Technical Director at Cantarus, and David Mountford, CEO of the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA). Dean will share what organisations commonly miss when putting a tender together, and how to get the most useful responses back: the questions worth asking and the information vendors need from you. David will talk through BEVA's own experience selecting a technology partner: what mattered most in the decision, and what the process was like.

Join for a rounded view of what a good selection process looks like from both sides of the table, plus Hart Square’s insight into getting your requirements right and using them to make a selection decision you can stand behind.

Who is this for?

Project leads, operations managers, and anyone involved in evaluating or selecting technology at a charity or membership organisation, particularly those preparing for or currently running a procurement process.

What you’ll take away

  • Why requirements gathering is the most important step before any procurement, and what a structured process looks like in practice
  • How to define and prioritise requirements so your selection is grounded in organisational need rather than a wish list
  • The questions that cut through a polished pitch and reveal hidden costs, integration complexity and delivery risk before you sign anything
  • How to evaluate partners beyond features: looking at cultural fit, scalability, security and future fit
  • How to build a documented selection trail that your board can trust and your team can stand behind