Putting the ‘Proven’ in Installations

Demospeak: “We are an inherently open system, and we see no issues with our system running in your configuration.“
Translation: “We don’t actually have any live installations of what we’re showing here, and we’re hoping like hell you’ll be our first.”

It is amazing to me how often we talk to banks that have begun installation of a system and suddenly find out that:

• They are the beta site for the product
• They are the beta site for the newest release of the product
• Their configuration is unique
• Their interfaces are unique
• This all adds to cost and implementation time

We often hear the lament that the vendor didn’t disclose this. Probably… but the banks also didn’t ask.

I am a huge fan of questions regarding number of installations and peer users. This isn’t any inherent “follow the pack” mentality at work here. It’s simply recognition that if someone of your bank’s size and profile has the system running in a live environment, they have gone through pain and bleeding you won’t have to duplicate – at least as much.

Here’s our “onion strip” tip for the week. Ask every vendor in every demo how many of your peers have installed and are running exactly the same solution they are proposing. Installed and running means:

• The installation is complete and the system is being used in a live environment – no more testing, modifications, debugging needed
• This is not an alpha or beta site for the product
• All reports and interfaces are completed

A proven “peer user” is one who:

• Uses the same version of the program
• Uses all components of the system, not just part
• Uses the base package you are viewing – i.e., no major modifications or enhancements to the base system were required
• Is your size, with the same number of users
• Has your volumes
• Uses your product set, or close
• Utilizes your level of PCs and servers (speed, memory)
• Has your line speed to remote locations
• Has the same network design (e.g., fat client, thin client)
• Has the same network operating system
• Has the same desktop operating system
• Interfaces to/from the same systems you use

Any vendor who has clients that meet these criteria will be happy to discuss them with you, and rightfully so. Those who don’t should be treated warily.
-tr