The role of the software demonstration…

When it comes to buying software – CRM or otherwise – the software demonstration has generally played a weighty role in the technology/vendor selection process. I rack my brains, but I can’t recall an occasion when a CRM project in which I was involved, progressed without at least one demonstration before a purchase was made. Eleven years on, and having been exposed to several hundred selection decisions – both as a vendor and buyer – I’m increasingly cynical as to the value of the exercise.

From my time as a CRM vendor, I’m all too aware how easy it is to script a demonstration in a way that showcased the offering’s strengths and skated over the weaknesses. As a CRM purchaser, faced with assessing a dozen seemingly similar CRM offerings, I’m acutely aware how difficult analyzing the differences can be – even with the benefits of years of experience, and a reasonably tutored eye.

Software demonstrations, rather like job interviews, are a somewhat flawed process. A candidate’s performance in a one and a half hour interview is no guarantee of long term performance. The demonstration produces its own distortions – I’ve seen excellent products from highly capable vendors culled from candidate lists for seemingly trivial reasons, and products I knew couldn’t do the job, from vendors who I wouldn’t trust to mow the lawn, end up winning the day.

While beauty is of course in the eyes of the beholder, software purchasers might do well to re-evaluate the role of the demonstration. It is, to my mind, a deeply subjective process – too easily swayed by performance on the day – too focused on form as opposed to function.

By contrast, good decision making flows from an excellent understanding of the intended result. The clearer the business and associated functional requirements for a project, the more objectively you can assess the technology options. And perhaps this is the heart of the problem, the software demonstration is an important (though often overemphasized) selection tool, but a tool invariably used imperfectly because of the lack of clarity over the destination; as Lewis Carroll noted – ‘if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there’. Translated – ‘if you aren’t crystal clear on what you want the technology to do, then any CRM package will get you there.’

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