Hey Mikey!
“Let’s get Mikey. He won’t eat it, he hates everything.” Or so goes the Post Life Cereal commercial that first aired in 1972 on broadcast television. Mikey’s (whose real name is John Gilchrist) big brothers cringe at the thought of eating something healthy, fearing it won’t taste good. Maybe Mikey’s big brothers were destined to grow up to be in the enterprise software industry for it seems that most enterprise software vendors get mighty squeamish whenever a potential buyer says, “Can I download your software and play with it?” In other words, let me try it, maybe I’ll like it.
If you’ve ever encountered that hesitant reaction from your potential software provider, perhaps the first question that comes to mind is what are they afraid of or what are they hiding?
A clue leading to the answer of that question is buried in the definition of enterprise software itself. Or, rather, the lack of a concise, agreed-upon definition. A Wikipedia entry on the subject tends to confuse more than inform, but it’s not the writer(s) fault. Take a look at the many of links at article’s end, click through and you’ll notice that their sources tend to add to the confusion. A favorite one of mine is the definition from software market matchmaker, Capterra, which, among other things, says that the cost of enterprise software can range from free to millions of dollars. Their definition also asserts that there are millions of customers with a high rate of purchase failure.
Now that last characteristic about enterprise software just might be the key clue to answering why vendors get nervous when asked for a no-strings-attached downloading of their software.
Well, Mikey’s big brothers (turns out they are Gilchrist’s brothers in real life, too) keep saying “I’m not gonna try it, you try it.” Maybe they were envisioning becoming CIOs or CTOs, and each wanted the other to take on the problems and chances of failure of an enterprise software implementation project. The techies in our industry have a word for it too, enterprisey. The techies wielding that descriptor intend to deride inelegant, hard to use software. The term "enterprisey" (tongue-in-cheek) is intended to go beyond the concern of "overkill for smaller organizations" to imply the software is overly complex even for large organizations and simpler solutions are available.
Over complexity is a result of ineffective design. For enterprise software providers, confidence in the software they’ve built can come from market feedback and actual implementation stories. It is critical that the software from the onset be designed for ease-of-use. If accomplished, the software stands the chance of being able to sell itself through actual experience demonstrating rapid assimilation, deployment and measurable ROI, delivered within the real-world constraints of the current speed of business. An elegant design makes the complex more simple (definition of elegant: of scientific, technical, or mathematical theories, solutions, etc.; gracefully concise and simple; admirably succinct).
We strive to make our software with a keen eye to usability. That’s why we provide the market liberal access to AutoMate and AutoMate BPA Server downloads. If we can’t build software that customers and prospective customers can use, we feel we are failing at our mission. We recognize it’s an ever more complex world of technology and business that we all face. Our goal is to provide an Automation Platform that allows our valued customers to more effectively deal with complexity. If we introduce complexity into our own software, running the risk of it becoming enterprisey, what value are we delivering?
Sometimes our detractors will attempt to assign a lack of power to our elegant, easy-to-use AutoMate. If it’s that simple, it can’t be that robust. To this false accusation we answer by putting our money where their mouths are, namely by letting the market download AutoMate and try it. We are much more comfortable letting you be the final arbiter.
That’s just like Mikey. As he eagerly consumes his serving of Life Cereal, his older brothers exclaim in amazement, “He likes it! Hey Mikey!” Perhaps that’s why the commercial, first run nearly 40 years ago, is routinely ranked in the top 10 of memorable advertisements.
Our position? Click here to download. Try AutoMate, you’ll like it.
Comments (0)