Have you ever heard the saying, “Kick the tires before you buy it?” It’s an old adage referencing the shoddy quality of earlier automobiles, but it’s also investment slang for researching and testing something before you invest money into it. This principle applies to software purchasing decisions as well – buyers should kick the tires before purchasing any software solution, especially a business intelligence (BI) solution.
Unfortunately, one of the reasons BI has such a low implementation success rate is because many BI firms make it challenging to fully test out software before a company purchases the product. Instead, popular BI vendors encourage purchase decisions based upon reputation and customer numbers alone.
What’s the result from buying based upon a brand name versus actual testing? Customers oftentimes get stuck with software that they don’t need, don’t understand, or that isn’t performing.
If you’re in the market for BI software, there are a few red flags of which to be aware:
These are just a few reasons why it’s best to fully test a BI solution before you purchase it.
Generally, you can trust that software will do the basic things the company says it can do – but will it do what you specifically need it to do? Here are a few tips for testing a BI solution before you buy it to ensure it will fulfill your company’s specific needs:
When it comes to testing our software in the pre-purchase stage, we want you to test drive the car, kick the tires, and look under the hood. Initially, we encourage customers to check out our online recorded demo. Once Yurbi passes the look and feel test, you can sign up and start a free 14-day trial of Yurbi.
Once you sign up we send you all the info, instructions, and keys to get you started. Plus we provide you with a lot of self-help videos to help guide you through the trial process. But, you’re not on your own. If you run into any problems, or simply want to have someone else do the heavy lifting for you, you’re able to schedule a 30-min or 60-min timeslot with our Customer Service team so we can do a screen share and help you out. And we’re not just talking about a one time thing, as much assistance as you need, we’re here to help (even before you are a customer).
Because we maintain a high level of customer support throughout the entire buying and customer acquisition process, we often receive feedback similar to what one of our new customers recently said:
“Just want to confirm… after purchasing licenses do we still get a support team that I can utilize the way that Brian has helped me out over the past few weeks? That’s a really good service level.”
Why do we provide extensive, full trials to our customers at no cost with full customer support? Because we want you to be sure Yurbi is going to meet your company’s specific BI needs and to showcase the level of support you will receive as a Yurbi customer.
And one of the best things about our trial, once you’re done you’re going to be a good way to your product environment solution and none of the work done in the trial disappears. Simply apply a purchased license to keep the party going.
Don’t become a statistic and purchase a BI solution based on a brand name or online demo. Your BI buying decision should be founded upon the BI company’s level of customer care and support, and whether the solution is a match for your BI challenges.
And beware – if a company is hesitant to provide a trial, it may indicate that the software is difficult to use or that it won’t solve your most complex issues. However, if you have kicked the software’s tires and everything under the hood looks great, you should be good to invest in the BI solution.
If you’re ready to learn more about Yurbi and experience the benefits it brings to the table, we invite you to request a live demo of Yurbi with one of our specialists. Ask questions and find out if Yurbi may be the right fit for your organization. Or, jump right into a trial and try Yurbi with your data.
