Providers without the proper grounding may be unable to give you the best advice. The effect
can be expensive, as this will often cause projects to overrun time and expense budgets, or fail
completely.
It is therefore important to choose a provider with a good technical grasp of the product, not just
an overview or sales information. You will typically require some consulting to make decisions
regarding the most effective use of the product to solve your unique problems.
When the provider is making their pitch, see if they actually make use of the software in the
demonstration. If they merely show 'pre-built' examples, the chances are they do not have
sufficient capability to actually use the software. With any software it is reasonably easy to use,
they should be able to create a simple but fully functional example system in front of you - that is
a key requirement in my experience.
Ask about potential pitfalls, and what to avoid, for example. Without a reasonable technical
grounding, providers will find these questions very difficult, as they only know what the
marketing materials sent to them state. A good indication of the focus of the provider is the
nature of the information they publish regarding the software they sell. Do they focus on the
'Revenue Growth' of the Software producer, for example (an obvious indication of sales focus),
or the technical innovations of the product? Is the information directly copied from marketing
materials provided by the Software Producer, or have they obviously analysed the technical
impact to the customer of functional changes?
1. Where does the Solution Provider fit in?
