Technology executives find sharing their product experiences can yield side benefits.
Case workers at the State of Florida’s Department of Children and Families have their hands full trying to keep track of the health and safety of all their clients – a task complicated by the dozens of unconnected databases used to store client information.
The IT department wanted to help by integrating all DCF systems and building a consolidated view of client data. But finding the money was a big obstacle.
Tips for acting as a vendor reference
“State funding is a very complicated process,” says Glenn Palmiere, IT director at the Tallahassee agency. “No matter how good a product seems, no matter how good a pilot proves it is going to work, you still have to go through a very large life cycle in order to get the funding.”
Fortunately, software maker InterSystems stepped in and fronted the DCF its application integration software for 15 months so the agency could get started before buying any software. “If they didn’t do that, we would never be at the point we are now,” Palmiere says.
The software loan was a risk for InterSystems, because there was no guarantee of a sale. Following the InterSystems pilot, DCF did its due diligence and shopped out the project to a number of other integration vendors, including IBM and Oracle. In this case the risk paid off. After a pilot project last year to connect five systems, the DCF bought InterSystems’ Ensemble software and is working to extend its deployment across 59 systems, Palmiere says.
He is grateful for the loan and now acts as a reference for the InterSystems product. “It’s the least I can do by agreeing to tell people about the experiences that we had,” he says. “Plus I really believe in it.”
Customers such as Palmiere who vouch for a vendor’s technology can play a key role in purchases. Gartner recommends that companies in the market for new software conduct extensive reference checking.
“Only through customer references can selection teams gauge the efficacy of business applications operating in the real world,” the research firm wrote in a recent software procurement tutorial. “References should be among the primary mechanisms for substantiation of vendor claims, especially concerning newer or more innovative applications.”
Necessarily, vendors depend on existing customers to act as references to their prospects, and many are willing to compensate such references.
Jay Wessel, senior director of technology for the Boston Celtics, has served as a reference for vendors such as Avaya and Ipswitch. In general, if Wessel has a good relationship with a vendor, he’s at least open to exploring being a reference.
He says acting as a reference can help his organization save money. “I look for some sort of monetary benefit – if we can get a break on service and support for a year, for example – in exchange for serving as a reference,” he says. What’s more, Wessel says getting his name out there can aid in career development.
However, one drawback is that once Wessel is written up as a reference on a vendor Web site or in a magazine, it can generate unwanted sales calls from other vendors. “I have been a little disillusioned by that,” he says.
If you’re mulling the idea of becoming a reference, don’t expect monetary perks in exchange for an endorsement. Scott Lundstrom, CTO at AMR Research, says it’s unusual for vendors to offer quantifiable financial rewards – such as free service or support – which can have complicated accounting implications. Giving a customer an unlimited-use evaluation copy of a new product or developing a desired feature in exchange for acting as a reference is a more common arrangement, he says.
“There’s no malfeasance there, there’s no financial transaction” under those conditions, Lundstrom says. “Everyone maintains a certain amount of their moral posture.”
Some vendors, such as Ipswitch, have a formal process for cultivating and rewarding customer references. Ipswitch launched a program earlier this year to formalize what had been an ad hoc system of tracking referenceable customers, says Tamara Hart, customer and partner programs manager at the company, which makes file-sharing, messaging and anti-virus tools.
Any Ipswitch customer can be a reference, Hart says. But some of the most desirable references are users who have an ongoing relationship with Ipswitch, such as through a service agreement or by participating in its training or user group meetings.
In return for acting as a reference, Ipswitch offers certain perks, such as access to product managers and developers. Reference customers can suggest feature enhancements, and they have access to information about product upgrades and new releases seven days before a public announcement, Hart says.
Usually that’s enough of an enticement, but occasionally some extra incentive is warranted. “Sometimes if we really want a particular customer to be a part of the program, then we will offer them something additional, like a free service agreement,” Hart says. “We do like to have those big names that are immediately recognizable, but they can be quite a challenge to get.”
Lundstrom agrees. “There are a small number of global, Fortune 100 companies that any vendor would like to have as a reference. Those companies understand the power they have in the marketplace, and they don’t give those things out lightly,” he says.
For some customer references, it’s not about perks at all. Paul Galliher, vice president of distribution at footwear manufacturer Skechers in Manhattan Beach, Calif., says the reason he talks about his experience with a vendor is to help his peers. “I know I appreciate it if someone shares their experiences – whether it was a good experience or a bad experience, information that would help me make a better decision,” Galliher says.
He most recently has talked about his company’s implementation of wireless LAN products from Psion Teklogix and warehouse management software from Manhattan Associates (see story). The vendors didn’t ask him to be a reference directly; the request was filtered though Skechers’ internal public relations department, he says.
Skechers had sought information about the products from other users before investing, and now Galliher is returning the favor.
