Discussion

By Justin Bailey on Aug 31, 2022

Great article. Whilst this article focuses on MIS/ERP solutions, the exact same principles apply when a OEM manufacturer looking for a technology partner to supply something like a digital front-end (DFE), or an end-user seeking a solutions provider for a workflow or prepress tools.

Share the problems that you are trying to solve. - I often see companies telling the software vendor that they want to see a demo of a feature that they may have read about, when in fact it doesn't really solve their challenge.

By Larry Mock on Aug 31, 2022

You hit this topic right on the nose Jennifer! There are many times during a software demo that when we ask what a clients main challenges are and they have a difficult time articulating which ones are a priority because there may be many. At this point, our job is to slow down and have them walk us through what they do, how they do it so that we can help them isolate the most important issues that our software can help with. Print is custom manufacturing and very few workflows are exactly the same due to all the variables of technology, human resources, customers etc. etc.

By Chuck Werninger on Sep 02, 2022

As a frequent software buyer, it's hard to tell vendors enough about our challenges so they can think outside our "current box" and propose innovative solutions. I'm often worried that telling them exactly how we do things today will cause them to arrive at the same conclusion. Working together to solve problems requires a balancing act of sharing, listening and learning on both ends. Buyers WANT solutions but software vendors also need to understand that effective production operations are already solving problems on our own...and encountering new challenges along the way, so we're constantly evolving. Sometimes, I need to see tool demonstrations to see how we might use their tool in ways they might not have considered previously but other times things that were a problem 6 months ago are no longer problems, which changes our value, too. Software developers are by definition programmers and technical people who live to solve problems...but their software is sold by professional sales people who feed their families based on their ability to "make the sale." There are very few people who are able to do both effectively so buyers have to be somewhat guarded in the process, too.