Recently, one of the posts I read decried vendors responding to an individual’s request for information about what the best such and such might be. The original request did not have much to go on, but there were plenty of “helpful” people that responded with “Have you looked at our” this or that. After several vendor postings of look at this or have you seen that, someone suggested creating a new list that banned vendors from viewing or responding to pleas for assistance.
While I take exception to that extreme point of view, I understood it… having too much non-relevant information could be as confusing as not having enough.
Other responses were more thoughtful, asking more questions of the original poster. What are you trying to accomplish? Are you looking for a solution that is geared toward an individual or a group or an enterprise? Software as a Service or Licensed solution is best? Do you have money to spend? What types of assets need managing? How many assets do you have? Do they need converting? Is integration with an external product required? Are you seeking an industry specific solution?
A responsible vendor will ask these types of questions before even thinking about offering their product as The Solution. How can you propose a solution without having a clear understanding of the problem?
While some may consider a vendor’s perspective myopic, it should not be discounted. Who better knows the product? In my case, I have been to many of our customers and have seen how they work. I have seen customers that are doing things I would not have thought of and instances where our own customers are unaware of some of our coolest functionality. In the former, I become part of the knowledge repository for workflow, for the later, that’s because they have not needed that workflow or functionality previously. As their needs grew, their knowledge level of their existing tools did not always grow. If you have a hammer, you use it to solve all your problems. Or you look for a new tool. But many times, the toolbox where the hammer came from contains the other tools that may be useful…if only you knew they were there and how to use them.
Often the person that made the toolbox will know how their tools can solve your problem. Just today (as I write this) I discussed how to solve a problem with a customer. The initial conversation started to head toward customization. But after taking the time to learn what the problem actually was, it was determined that existing functionality will likely solve the need quite easily.
It is worth listening to vendors, either ones you know or ones you have not met yet, to get a perspective on how to solve your problems, how to use the other tools in the toolbox. In the case of keeping our own customers up to date, we periodically hold webinars to showcase workflow. Our web presence is increasing, and you can find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Facebook is where I have been posting cool new features of our M5 rich digital asset management client.
Posted by David Breslauer