6 Tips for Getting More out of Software Demos

Product demos. Some people love them, some people hate them. Whichever side of the fence you fall on, though, they are a critical part of the software evaluation process--especially if you are considering an investment in complex enterprise class software. Follow these 6 tips to get the most of your next software demos.

1. Don't overwhelm yourself.

Software demos are a tremendous selection resource, but they shouldn't be your first move when it comes to software reviews. If you round up all the possible software candidates and start right in on demos, you will waste a lot of time reviewing options which you could've much more easily determined weren't going to be a good fit. Instead of demoing each solution, ask vendors key qualifying questions to narrow down to a more manageable group (3-5 is usually sufficient). Will this software support the specific processes I need it to address? Will it integrate with our other information systems? Does it meet any industry-specific requirements there may be? Can it be deployed in our preferred hosting environment (cloud vs. internal)? Does it fall within our basic spending parameters?

2. Take the vendor-guided demo.

Stand-alone, self-guide demos sound great in theory. They're usually not so hot in reality. If you're just demoing a simple utility type application--by all means, fire up the demo and have at it. But if you're looking to evaluate a more complex enterprise system, you owe it to yourself to get a full, vendor-guided demo.

Why? Well, there's a couple main reasons. First, most business class software systems are built to be modular. So while there's often a wide variety of different module choices, you're likely to require a more limited set. A vendor will be able to configure the software and the demo to show you just the relevant functionality. Second, software is all about unlocking the potential to handle processes better. So ask yourself, who will best understand everything the software software can do to provide automation and efficiency--the person who's looking at it for the first time or the trained, product expert?

3. Prepare the demonstrator.

While your software demonstrator will be an expert on the capabilities of the system, you are the expert on understanding the processes the software will need to support. The purpose of a demo isn't to determine if the product is great software. That's nice to know, but the real value of the demo is to determine if the software is a great solution for your needs. You'll get the most out of your demo when you take the time to first prepare the demonstrator with instructions on what challenges you are facing. That way you'll walk away from the demo understanding exactly how the software will address your specific requirements.

4. Take notes.

Sometimes the best advice sounds the simplest. This is one of those cases. Make sure to take notes during the demo! As obvious as this sounds, it's so easy to forget during the actual demo. The reality is that demos are intended to be vivid, immersive presentations. It's incredibly easy to overestimate what you'll remember later, when you're looking right at in the present. Here's a great approach: See something that looks really important during the demo? Ask the vendor to do a screen-capture and send it to you after the presentation. A picture's worth a 1000 words right?

5. Count the steps.

Let's talk step counting. There are 98 steps at the Lincoln Memorial. Ok, who cares? That's trivia. What's not trivia though is how many steps it will take you to complete critical tasks within the software you are demoing. Software is all about automation. Sometimes software buyers struggle though to quantify the automation benefits of various programs. The key is to bring it back to the basics. Identify your top processes. Figure out how many steps (or better yet, how much time) it takes each program you demo to complete the task.

6. Incorporate users and decision makers.

Decisions on enterprise software are rarely made solo. Demos are such a key part of the evaluation it only makes sense to have all the key players in your software decision on-hand for the demo. There's a couple practical considerations at play here. First, have you ever tried to describe a demo to someone who didn't see it themselves. It's tough. You end up saying things like, "The way it does x is really slick," and "When you want to do y, you just press this thing on the right of the screen that's in a toolbar inside a sidebar type thing." You get the point. It's hard to get specific. Second, complex business systems tend to have functionality for more than one user group. Bringing in power users from each group can help you make sure you are collectively asking the right questions to understand how the software will meet all your business needs.