Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
INTERPRETING VENDOR RESPONSES
(continued)
Response: That capability is in a future release.
Translation: Someday you will be able to use that capability, but you really
need to wait for development to finish and then wait for the bugs to be worked
out before you should stake your entire project on this function.
When preparing for a sales meeting, a good vendor sales team will ask you
to provide in advance a list of product(s) or services that are of interest, and
any specific questions or concerns. This gives them the opportunity to properly
address them during the meeting. This works to your benefit. Otherwise, the
meeting may turn out to be a fact-finding mission for the sales team, which
then leads to another meeting to really address your needs.
When any vendor is showing you product features, it is important to ensure
that you walk away with a good understanding of how things are done. A
simple-looking report may have taken several days and the help of advanced
technical support staff to build. You need to know not only that the function
is possible, but also whether or not it is feasible for your project. A colleague
in London expressed this specific concern with a descriptive and colorful
phrase. The question was asked, ''Is that part of the base tool or was there
some jiggery-pokery involved to produce that report?'' What a wonderful
expression! Using a little ''jiggery-pokery'' is not inherently a bad thing to get
the results you want. It only becomes a problem when you are not aware that
this is what is involved.
The Value of References
One of the most useful things you can do when making product choices is to
talk with other organizations that are using that product. The first path to find
these other companies is to ask the vendor for references. Everyone's first
instinct is to request to talk to another company in the same industry with
data of similar size and complexity. That puts any vendor in a tight spot.
The only companies that meet these criteria are your top competitors. If those
companies use this product, it is unlikely that they would be willing to speak
with you. Clearly, the vendor should not be sharing too many details about
these installations with you either. You would not want them telling others
anything about your installation, would you?
Explore other possible references with that vendor. Request to speak with
companies from other industries that support a similar business function
(finance, human resources), size, or complexity. This should be sufficient to
get a good idea of how the product is working in a similar setting.
