ISG Tango™ is a digital sourcing platform designed to modernize traditionally complex and labour-intensive sourcing activities. Foolproof collaborated with ISG to design and engineer a solution that combines automation, data-driven decision-making, and user-centred design to create a more efficient sourcing experience. The platform helps organizations simplify procurement activities, improve transaction speed, and increase operational efficiency while maintaining the expertise and advisory services for which ISG is known.
Designing and engineering a next-gen sourcing platform
ISG Tango TM is a groundbreaking, digitised sourcing platform. To better serve clients, it improves transaction speed and efficiency, while allowing ISG to expand into other market segments. We helped bring the platform to life by partnering with ISG across design and engineering.
The challenge
Make the sourcing process less labour-intensive, manual and complex
Allow ISG to grow and serve new markets by augmenting its highly specialised team through the power of technology
Aim to deliver a better, more efficient sourcing experience to ISG clients and providers
Our approach
Got under the hood of the organisation by closely working with key stakeholders from ISG
Gained insight through conducting research into the third-party sourcing process
Leveraged ISG’s in-house technical expertise to understand the desired experience and design a future-fit, data-enabled sourcing platform
Prioritised features to digitise and deliver based on the most impactful parts of the process
Targeted improvement of employee, client and provider experience
Phase one
Discovery and definition
ISG, Foolproof and Zensar worked together across discovery. This phase focused on understanding the current experience of ISG clients and advisors. Through research, we investigated where users felt friction in the process and identified key areas that could be improved. To reduce the burden of manual processes, we also considered opportunities for streamlining, configuration and automation. We utilised these learnings to define the MVP and key user journeys that needed tackling.
Through this process, we established a platform vision. It included opportunities to produce a scalable solution that blended the best of digital automation and human expertise.
Phase two
Building an MVP at pace
We rapidly formed an MVP roadmap, and created supporting designs, to help ISG create their digitised sourcing platform. Centred around value, potential impact and solving complex features, the MVP was aligned to underlying technical architecture. It focused on a key part of the sourcing journey and the user needs related to this.
We completed user research with providers to validate the overall approach for the tool. This was to corroborate the proof of concept and also to trial how the provider access would work, both at the time and in the future.
The MVP set the vision and direction of the incremental platform build, which sped up delivery and increased value to employees and clients. It also opened future sourcing capabilities and opportunities.
Phase three
Moving into build
With the vision locked in and MVP defined, we moved into the design and build of the product. Utilising the roadmap and requirements gathered from our earlier work, we began shaping and reprioritising the features that would be delivered as part of the sourcing experience.
Together with Zensar, and ISG’s technical team we moved into incremental agile delivery of the sourcing product.
Results
The future for ISG
ISG launched ISG Tango to market and received feedback from employees, clients and providers. Based on qualitative and quantitative insights, this feedback was combined with platform usage data to identify areas for improvement. These findings were triangulated to shape a backlog for future platform evolutions, which was prioritised based on value.
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We'd love to partner with you. Contact Ed, on ed@foolproof.co.uk
Related work
ISG Tango™ - FAQs
The project began with extensive discovery and research involving ISG advisors, clients, and providers. By understanding how stakeholders interacted with the existing sourcing process, Foolproof identified friction points, inefficiencies, and opportunities for automation. These insights informed the product vision, MVP roadmap, and user journeys, ensuring the platform addressed real-world business challenges while delivering measurable value.
Organizations are under constant pressure to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and make better procurement decisions. Digital sourcing platforms streamline complex workflows, provide greater transparency, and enable faster collaboration between stakeholders. By replacing manual activities with digital processes, businesses can improve productivity, reduce errors, and accelerate strategic decision-making.
An MVP allows businesses to deliver value quickly while validating assumptions through real-world usage. For ISG Tango™, the MVP established a strong foundation for future development, enabling rapid deployment, early feedback collection, and continuous prioritization of features based on customer needs. This agile approach reduced risk while supporting ongoing innovation.
Automation reduces repetitive administrative tasks, improves consistency, and enables teams to focus on higher-value activities. Within sourcing and procurement, automation can simplify provider evaluations, improve communication, accelerate approvals, and deliver more reliable outcomes. The ISG Tango platform was designed around these principles to create a faster and more effective sourcing experience.
Modern sourcing platforms provide scalability, data visibility, operational efficiency, and improved collaboration. They support continuous improvement through analytics and user feedback while enabling organizations to adapt quickly to changing business needs. ISG Tango™ provides a flexible foundation that can evolve and expand as sourcing requirements become more sophisticated.