5. Introducing: Garrett Man, Vice President of ROI Consulting, Tech Target, one of IBM’s premier internet media providers
6. Business To Business Online Marketing Best Practices Garrett Mann Vice President of ROI Consulting TechTarget
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8. Google Opens the Door to a Buyer’s Search, but it is Not Their Final Destination Autos Consumer Tech Travel Health Mortgages Horizontal search begins here Vertical search ends on sites like ours
11. IT Buyers Consume Online Media Throughout Buying Process Issue/opportunity Solution Comparison/review Brand Awareness Consideration Decision
12. Reaching IT Buyers in Active Buying Cycles Self-selected IT and business audiences based on specific topics Organized by industry, business and technology interests Most effective way to topically brand a solution and capture high quality leads Search and Syndication Contextual Alignment Targeting Reaching IT Buyers
18. Web Marketing Program for Business Partners Michele Jacobs, SWG BP Marketing Manager [email_address] The Fourth Mutable Law of Web marketing is : Pull people to your site by your relevant content, then push quality information to them regularly. Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-commerce Consultant
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23. Sample Pay for Performance Lead Flow: White Paper Tactic White Paper Place White Paper on ADT Magazine Tech Library BP White Paper highlighted on splash page, larger asset list & is searchable! Anyone who downloads piece registers to access BP gets weekly registration reports BP or co-marketing tele qualifies
31. Internet Marketing Benefits for IBM Business Partners Julie Shore – Worldwide Software Channel Marketing [email_address] - Phone/Fax: +1-919-877-4908 August 2009
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38. Business Partner Costs / Reimbursement *Co-marketing reimbursement dependent on country/IMT policies and Business Partner eligibility. N/A No cost to BP BP Application Showcase Software Brand Catalogs N/A No cost to BPs Solutions-daily.com Yes $1,049 per year, per user (new Hoover’s clients only) Hoover’s membership No Member: One month no-cost trial, up to 15 participants Advanced/Premier: No cost to BP for six-month trial, up to 15 participants; 20% discount after trial LotusLive Meeting offer Yes Significant discount off vendor’s “street price” E-mail prospect list services N/A No cost to BP Best-practice enablement N/A No cost to BP IBM Web content syndication Yes $600 for moderator and LotusLive Meetings usage for up to 499 participants Web conference execution (US/Canada only at this time) Yes $2,000 for first campaign; $250 for each subsequent during same year Internet Lead Generator Dependent on vendor, geo, scope No cost for e-mail blasts; printing & mailing costs for d-mail; Web site placement costs for banner ads $1,500 (reduced from $2,000) Cost to BP Yes Telemarketing Yes Campaign Designer (Banner ads, direct mail, e-mail) Yes, as part of larger campaign Search Engine Optimization * Co-marketing Reimbursement Benefit / Subject
41. The Web: Extending Your Presales Reach Jim Herron CTO, Island Training Solutions
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54. Press *1 Please be sure your phone’s mute function is turned off when asking your questions!
55. Thank You Merci Grazie Gracias Obrigado Danke Japanese English French Russian German Italian Spanish Brazilian Portuguese Arabic Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Tamil Thai Korean Hindi
56. IBM Rational Think!Thursday September 10 th Greater Confidence. Improved Performance. Quality driven software delivery Date Title August 13 Information Management Think!Thursday New Intelligence for a Smarter Planet - Leveraging Information for Smarter Business Outcomes August 20 Lotus Think!Thursday IBM Lotus and WebSphere Portal Value Selling Workshops - Session 5 August 27 IBM Software Think!Thursday Growth Through Skills Update September 3 WebSphere Think!Thursday BPM BlueWorks - How to use it as a Selling Tool Tivoli Think!Thursday To Be Announced
57. Rational Think!Thursday sales series replays available on the IBM VIC Month Title July ’09 Will You Be Authorized to Resell Rational Software June ’09 Driving innovation and competitive differentiation May ’09 Ready For Rational Software Conference 2009 April ’09 Breaking through barriers: Transforming how teams work together March ’09 AppScan version 7.8 Overview and Software-as-a-Service Offering ... February ’09 Aligning Business Goals/Software Requirements in Collaborative … December ’08 Driving Business Differentiation With Agility and Confidence November ’08 New and Enhanced Products Including Rational Team Concert for i October ’08 Introducing Rational Software Architecture and Construction Solution V7.5 September ’08 New Rational AppScan Web Security Offerings
Editor's Notes
Let me take a few moments and tell you about us
The introduction of the web as a media distribution channel has greatly changed the way “buyers” conduct their research. On the flip side marketers must also change their marketing strategies to attract and connect with these buyers: Majority of pre-purchase research being done on the web – both commercial and consumer Search is the gateway for this research – primarily google IT industry looking for quick information/answers to research projects – also rely heavily on third party information – analysts, publishers (TechTarget), etc. As audiences information needs become more acute, their need for the most specific information increases. The internet has provided an environment with the ability to satisfy this need. Example from consumer broadcast market – difference between reaching golfers by advertising on the major networks that carry golf vs. advertising on espn vs. advertising on the golf channel. Online gives you the ability to efficiently target the most specific, interested, and engaged audience around a particular technology market.
Buyers may be doing general searches to just get educated and help them further understand the business problem they have identified. At this point they will use a search engine like Google to open the door to their search to broader category sites like travel, or general IT, but ultimately, we know they are looking to land on a specific site that is vertically-focused to their IT interest. TechTarget has more than of these sites. When IT buyers are in a research mode they are open to being influenced and this is where your marketing activities should focus.
People seek out a wide variety of sources when they’re researching IT topics. Our research shows that online resources are some of the most popular destinations. Search engines were the #1 way that people looked for IT information. People also often look at the websites of various IT vendors (#2) and IT publishers (#4). Of the top 13 ways that people find IT information, 7 are online – showing your audience is moving online.
In addition to using many different sources to find IT information, IT buyers read a variety of content types At one point or another, they use all of these content types – all of which can be found online It’s important to note that no one type of content can give IT buyers all the information they need to make their purchasing decisions Notice how the type of content people want changes over time: we’ll look at that more in the next slide
Our research shows that IT buyers use the internet throughout their buying process, from their initial need to the final purchase However, the type of online media they look for changes depending on where they are in that process Awareness stage: Early on, people are trying to better understand their problem and identify the opportunity. They often look to online communities, ebooks, and editorial articles. Consideration stage: In the middle of their process, people are trying to find possible solutions. They use search engines, case studies, and webcasts to find more concrete information on the options available to solve their problem. Decision stage: Finally, people want to narrow down the possible solutions to just one. They want specific vendor information from product literature, trial software, or online demos.
Your goal is to find IT buyers while they’re actively working to make a buying decision. There are several ways to do this: Targeting : Targeting a specific environment or market helps you zero in on a specific group of IT buyers while they’re researching the topic that you offer a solution to. Search and Syndication : By syndicating information about your company or area of expertise across many websites, you have a chance of reaching the exact type of IT buyer you’re looking for. Syndication gives you an “always on 24/7” presence that allows your content to be available anytime a prospect is actively searching for solutions. Contextual Alignment : This can be your most effective way to generate opportunities because you align and associate your company with expert editorial content on a specific topic and/or subtopic. Illustrate how this works: IT Pro goes to Google and searches on a particular subject re: Network Security. He ultimately lands on SearchSecurity on an editorial piece about network security. Vendor banners served exclusively on this specific page with information regarding the company solutions as well as content offerings. This gives higher exposure and consideration for vendor’s offerings to IT user in research mode.
As we saw, more and more people are using the internet to research IT topics. The balance of power has shifted from the seller to the buyer in the IT space with online being the biggest driver of this shift. A prospect can find out almost much of what they need to know about a company, solution, or product online without ever speaking to a representative of that company. Example from consumer industry: what is the process when you buy a car? The first thing you do isn’t go to the dealer lot, you get on cars.com or edmunds or kelley blue book. Then you consult consumer reports, then forums - user/driver sites. Then you get on dealer WEBSITES and compare prices. THEN you walk on to the lot and negotiate pricing and ultimately buy the car. The process is the same in IT. But why have B2B companies turned to online marketing? The main reason is that online marketing can help companies deliver a high return on investment (ROI). The internet – more than any other medium – helps your marketing be accountable because it’s easier to measure results. It is not just about eyeballs anymore like it used to be and continues to be with most offline mediums. You can measure response and generate opportunities for your business in real time. In any economy (but especially a down economy), there is more pressure on marketers to deliver/prove results more immediately. Online helps marketers do just that. Also, companies are learning they can reach a highly targeted audience of just the people they’re most interested in. The better targeted the effort, the more efficient. Because more people are turning to the Web for their IT research, it’s important for companies to be online too or they’ll miss a golden opportunity.
To help you reach the best prospects online, here are a few ideas: Content, content, content Make sure the content you offer is highly relevant to the needs of your audience With so much information available online, it’s your credibility that will help you gain trust with your audience. To help you build credibility, connect with a community of trusted experts in your specific niche. You can do everything right in terms of tactics – targeting, syndicating, being contextual – but if your content is weak, not relevant, or not information rich, you will not hold the interest of potential prospects. i.e – “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” Set up a process to nurture opportunities that you can easily repeat. Your online marketing may deliver more opportunities than you expect, so be ready to respond to them quickly using the steps you’ve thought about ahead of time (more on nurturing in a minute). However you choose to reach prospects online, make sure you can easily measure your return on investment (ROI) so you know where your marketing funds are best spent. And, be flexible enough to respond to new learnings during your online marketing campaign.
A critical (but often overlooked) part of any online marketing campaign is nurturing the opportunities generated. Why nurture? You help to develop the opportunity, to qualify them more, and increase the chances they’ll be eventually buy from you. Not all opportunities are created equal: as we have seen different people enter in different parts of the buying process and have different information needs. Not all opportunities will turn into fully qualified leads immediately. You first want to break the opportunities into several “buckets” that are based on where they are in the buying process or what type of prospect they are. Follow up by email with each opportunity quickly. Be prepared to follow up with them a number of times over time as you help move them through the cycle – each communication brings them closer to speaking with your sales team and hopefully closing the deal.
If you have any questions about the topics we talked about today, please don’t hesitate to ask one of the TechTarget contacts listed here.
You just heard Garrett talk about the market in general, now let’s bring the relevance closer to home—you and your market. Your prospect market today is up and down, financial closeouts, bail outs, regulations, end of year profitability issues. They have two things on their minds: do more with less and increase ROI Fifteen years ago, business to business direct marketing reached the mail box and the inbox, today it reaches the briefcase, internet marketing extends to the cell phone and the blackberry, millions of messages traveling round the world every second! Google, once a noun, is now a verb…The average business person seeking information in some subject, “googles” at least 12 times a day—think about it: competitive information, regulations, pricing, case study research, and the list goes on. Your challenge is to be part of that search. Partners are not only faced with breaking through media clutter to gain recognition but also managing their own ROI models. There is the challenge: The cost of generating contacts has risen from $30 per to over $150 per ‘ White space” marketing is a time consuming science A lone business can drown in the sea of media Niche aware, white space adverse
Strategic Internet marketing is, obviously, the key to success on the web. Internet marketing isn’t nearly has hard as it appears, as long as you remember a few key rules OR build a relationship with a marketing agency experienced in internet marketing. It is referred to as web… Also refers to… You will hear Julie talk about some of these other tactics in a few minutes.
To effectively run a profitable web campaign, you must get the maximum bang for your buck. One strategy for doing this is to qualify your traffic by having a compelling asset; like a whitepaper, a POT, a case study and using market relevant terms, phrases or details in your description. Hot Rational market topics can include web security, governance, testing, compliance, identity theft, hacking. Here you see an example of how a well crafted asset placed on a demographically relevant site can drive opptys to you. The biggest mistake most businesses make with internet advertising and asset development is keyword perspective. Keyword perspective refers to the point of view one has when developing keywords for any type of advertising. There are primarily two perspectives, but each only works with one audience. If you get them crossed up, your internet advertising will be a mess. The industry perspective is usually the area where we see the biggest failures. In the business to business field we are providing services or products to businesses, we need to use industry terms! If a business sells medical solutions to hospitals, your prospects are going to be sophisticated when using technical terms in their searches. They will search for HIPPA compliance instead of medical software. In the business to business scenario, you must focus on industry terms or have your internet advertising fail. Internet advertising for business is all about perspective. You need to focus on who your prospects are and the terminology they use. Failure to do so will lead to the failure of your internet advertising. Remember, you heard it in Garrett’s presentation: content, content, content. Now let me add, relevance, relevance, relevance. Why should it be important to you? 7-35* Varies by country outside the US
Internet advertising is a tremendous short term marketing strategy for a number or reasons. First, the advertising gets traffic to your asset immediately. Second, it allows you to convert traffic into dollars. If conversions are low, you can modify the description to get immediate feedback. There are a variety of methods: banner ads, pay per clicks, and guaranteed opptys, You need to decide what your call to action is going to be: do you want to create an image, generate interest, or create demand. We hee at IBM are mindful of your dollars and seek for you to be the most successful, therefore we only endorse publications that deliver guaranteed opportunities. These publications that provide that type of program accept the responsibility for drive to YOU the prospects that will be most successful. Internet advertising is a tremendous short term marketing strategy for a number or reasons. First, the advertising gets traffic to your asset immediately. Second, it allows you to convert traffic into dollars. If conversions are low, you can modify the description to get immediate feedback. Although there are a variety of methods: banner ads, pay per clicks, and guaranteed opptys, we strongly encourage our partners to seek out guaranteed oppty programs. The publications that provide that type of program accept the responsibility for drive to YOU the prospects that will be most successful. EXAMPLE CAMPAIGN: Business Partner has a White Paper Business Partner Pays for Set # Registrations Media Vendor Hosts & Advertises your White Paper You get Registration reports Campaign ends
In 2009, Rational tackled the challenge of developing a single, streamlined process for our Business Partners to plan, secure, implement and fund an internet marketing campaign.
Plan Wisely: We have created a Business Partner planning document that helps you define your strategy, your market and your messaging. A solid call to action to the right market at the right time in the right place To spend the money for opptys and not have the bandwidth to work them is more serious than not generating leads at all. You will damage your image and lose credibility You will give IBM a black eye You open the door for the competition who is nipping at your heels
These 12 steps followed with out deviation, will ensure your campaign success
IBM PartnerWorld offers a wide range of benefits to help you will many aspects of Internet-based marketing. Not every Business Partner wants or needs the full range of benefits we offer. But our menu-based approach enables you to choose the benefits that will fill gaps, without giving you more than you need. We have negotiated deep discounts from a variety of third-party vendors who are experts in their fields, to help you access high-quality advice and services. So from beginning to end, IBM benefits can help you integrate Internet-based marketing tactics into your successful marketing campaigns.
Transform Your Online Presence & Increase Opportunities with Internet Marketing Benefits from IBM Today, IT customers are looking to the Web to help them identify potential solution providers. In fact, nearly 90 percent of IT decision makers use search engines to locate products and services. IBM PartnerWorld provides a broad set of benefits to help IBM Business Partners leverage the Web to generate leads and drive sales. Web Content Syndication with WebCollage . Today you can augment your website with IBM assets. No cost, turn-key delivery of IBM software content to your Website. Syndicate IBM content such as product information, white papers, brochures, demos, and video directly onto your website with no additional effort or resources required on your side – an estimated savings of $6k per year. You can leverage assets to showcase technology to customers and generate new leads. Campaign Builder. Function of Campaign Designer tool. Enables brands to input an instruction set for a given campaign, including CDT and non-CDT content and tools. Few brands/campaigns are using it now. Search engine optimization . Enhance the effectiveness of your Website and ensure prospects find you. This is a consulting engagement that evaluates your Web site and offers recommendations for changes that will improve search performance. The BP is responsible for implementing the recommended changes. New lower price -- previously $2,000, now $1,500. Offered by EuroRSCG. Solutions-daily.com. BPs can publish an article in a syndicated on-line magazine at no charge. Advertising, banner placement, etc., is additional cost. Catalogs/showcases. BPs can publish info about their IBM-related solutions in the BP Application Showcase, as well as any of four solution-specific catalogs (SOA, Tivoli OPAL, WebSphere Portal, and Lotus solutions). Web Banners, D-mail and E-mail campaigns from Campaign Designer . Direct mail and e-mail templates, as well as Web banners, for IBM campaigns. BPs must arrange and fund placement of banners, as well as printing/postage for d-mail. No charge for e-mail blasts. E-mail list services : Announced end of May 2009. Everything Channel has created a portal specifically for IBM Business Partners to access their e-mail and telemarketing list services. They will send your text or HTML content (including Campaign Designer e-mails) to e-mail lists built to your specified target demographics for both firms and recipients. For a small additional charge, they provide telemarketing information to licensed telemarketing firms, as well as assistance with e-mail design and Flash add-ons for maximum impact. All services are provided at a significant discount off their list prices. At announcement, benefit is available to BPs worldwide, but vendor is only offering lists of US-based prospects. Expect to expand as vendor validates coverage in other countries/geos. Telemarketing . Skilled conversations that engage prospects and identify business needs. Boost attendance at Webinars and drive traffic to your Website. No change to existing offerings or reimbursement/discounts, but new potential uses Internet Lead Generator tool. New tool, developed/delivered by Euro RSCG. Generates custom landing page offering persuasive thought leadership to attract prospect registration. Co-branded Web content to reinforce IBM and BP solution. Tracking to gauge campaign progress and tactic success. Direct contract between BP and agency vendor at pre-negotiated rates – eligible for co-marketing reimbursement. Announced at IMPACT in May 2009. Web Conferencing execution . Create a registration portal. Use LotusLive Meetings (formerly Sametime Unyte) web conference utility. IBM moderator to manage details. Leverage tele-boosting “drive-to” and tele-nurturing follow-though. Webinar execution – $500 charge for IBM moderator includes registration and use of LotusLive Meetings for up to 499 participants - eligible for co-marketing reimbursement, tiered discounting through PWIN. US/Canada only for now. LotusLive Meetings offer . No-charge trial of LotusLive Meetings service for up to 15 participants – one-month trial for Member level, six-month trial for Advanced/Premier. Great for internal collaboration, or for remote demos, prospect meetings or other lead-nurturing activities. Advanced/Premier BPs get 20% discount on license fees at the end of the trial period. Hoover’s membership : Hoover’s is a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet. They maintain a detailed database of information about more that 32 million companies – size, industry, revenue and financials, organizational structure, officers and executives, etc. IBM has negotiated a substantial 78% discount off membership access to Hoover’s “Prospector with Family Tree” product – US $1,049 for one user for one year, with unlimited research and the ability to download up to 2,000 records. Use this information to identify prospect companies in targeted industries, identify the right decision-makers within prospect firms, or verify the financial situation of existing clients – an ideal resource to help progress leads generated through Internet marketing.
Web Content Syndication . Today you can augment your website with IBM assets. No cost, turn-key delivery of IBM software content to your Website. Syndicate IBM content such as product information, white papers, brochures, demos, and video directly onto your website with no additional effort or resources required on your side – an estimated savings of $6k per year. You can leverage assets to showcase technology to customers and generate new leads.
Search engine optimization . Enhance the effectiveness of your Website and ensure prospects find you. This is a consulting engagement that evaluates your Web site and offers recommendations for changes that will improve search performance. The BP is responsible for implementing the recommended changes. New lower price -- previously $2,000, now $1,500. Offered by EuroRSCG. Solutions-daily.com. BPs can publish an article in a syndicated on-line magazine at no charge. Advertising, banner placement, etc., is additional cost. Catalogs/showcases. BPs can publish info about their IBM-related solutions in the BP Application Showcase, as well as any of four solution-specific catalogs (SOA, Tivoli OPAL, WebSphere Portal, and Lotus solutions). Web Banners from Campaign Designer . Direct mail and e-mail templates, as well as Web banners, for IBM campaigns. BPs must arrange and fund placement of banners, as well as printing/postage for d-mail. No charge for e-mail blasts.
E-mail list services : Announced end of May 2009. Everything Channel has created a portal specifically for IBM Business Partners to access their e-mail and telemarketing list services. They will send your text or HTML content (including Campaign Designer e-mails) to e-mail lists built to your specified target demographics for both firms and recipients. For a small additional charge, they provide telemarketing information to licensed telemarketing firms, as well as assistance with e-mail design and Flash add-ons for maximum impact. All services are provided at a significant discount off their list prices. At announcement, benefit is available to BPs worldwide, but vendor is only offering lists of US-based prospects. Expect to expand as vendor validates coverage in other countries/geos. Telemarketing . Skilled conversations that engage prospects and identify business needs. Boost attendance at Webinars and drive traffic to your Website. No change to existing offerings or reimbursement/discounts, but new potential uses Web Banners, D-mail and E-mail campaigns from Campaign Designer . Direct mail and e-mail templates, as well as Web banners, for IBM campaigns. BPs must arrange and fund placement of banners, as well as printing/postage for d-mail. No charge for e-mail blasts.
Internet Lead Generator tool. New tool, developed/delivered by Euro RSCG. Generates custom landing page offering persuasive thought leadership to attract prospect registration. Co-branded Web content to reinforce IBM and BP solution. Tracking to gauge campaign progress and tactic success. Direct contract between BP and agency vendor at pre-negotiated rates – eligible for co-marketing reimbursement. Announced at IMPACT 2009. Web Conferencing execution . Create a registration portal. Use LotusLive Meetings (formerly Sametime Unyte) web conference utility. IBM moderator to manage details. Leverage tele-boosting “drive-to” and tele-nurturing follow-though. Webinar execution – $600 charge for IBM moderator includes registration management and use of LotusLive Meetings for up to 499 participants - eligible for co-marketing reimbursement. US/Canada only for now. LotusLive Meetings offer . No-charge trial of LotusLive Meetings service for up to 15 participants – one-month trial for Member level, six-month trial for Advanced/Premier. Great for internal collaboration, or for remote demos, prospect meetings or other lead-nurturing activities. Advanced/Premier BPs get 20% discount on license fees at the end of the trial period Hoover’s membership : Hoover’s is a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet. It maintains a detailed database of information about more that 32 million companies – size, industry, revenue and financials, organizational structure, officers and executives, etc. IBM has negotiated a substantial 78% discount off membership access to Hoover’s “Prospector with Family Tree” product – US $1,049 for one user for one year, with unlimited research and the ability to download up to 2,000 records. Use this information to identify prospect companies in targeted industries, identify the right decision-makers within prospect firms, or verify the financial situation of existing clients – an ideal resource to help progress leads generated through Internet marketing.
This chart shows the costs and potential reimbursements available for these PartnerWorld benefits. Many are at no charge; several have nominal or aggressively discounted pricing. Many are eligible for reimbursement through available co-marketing programs. As always, co-marketing reimbursement is contingent on local policies, funding levels and Business Partner eligibility.
This morning we’ll share with you how Island has used the Internet to significantly extend our marketing and presales reach while significantly reducing our costs.
Traditional presales programs developed internally by IBM Rational: Demo – Combination of Power Point slides and point and click demo of product. Normally done with overhead projector. POT – 1 or 2 days hosted by IBM. Requires IBM laptops or classroom. Offered to local customers or those willing to travel. POC – 3 to 5 days on-site with individual customer.
All of our presales programs can be delivered onsite, but are designed to work remotely using our virtual web capability. Like all small businesses Island has limited resources. Use of web technology has significantly reduce our presales costs.
We developed our first remote services during the economic downturn of 2001-2002 in response to customer needs. Clients and the facilitator each connect to an individual remote server using web connection software. It requires only a web browser and takes 2 to 3 minutes to connect. Client’s screen and keyboard drives the remote server as if it was their local machine. This gives clients access to a fully configured work station with very little effort. Everyone joins a phone conference. Group discussions, lecture images, individual exercises, are all identical to an on-site environment, with the facilitator able to see and control individual client machines as needed. Customer acceptance of our remote services was very high, so over the last three years as we have become involved in presales activities, we designed our presales programs to take advantage of our remote labs.
Island’s typical test drive consists of a 15- to 20- minute overview presentation followed by 1.5 hours of facilitator-led tool usage. Test drives are open to anyone.
We can now offer test drives to anyone in the world. Location does not matter. It is easier to fill seats in our bi-weekly virtual test drives than to fill seats for local test drives. A test drive requires only 2 hours of Island consultant time. No travel; no system setup. Clients do not need to travel. They can connect from home or work. The optional hands-on exercises are greatly appreciated by technical individuals who are not satisfied by demos. Almost without fail, our test drives create internal advocates, because gain an understanding and the confidence that the solution is real.
Our Proof of Technology (POT) exercise is available to qualified clients. A POT takes clients through a successful process, using the tool to accomplish real-life tasks.
Again, removing the travel requirement is immensely beneficial to both Island and the client. Geographically dispersed teams can attend a POT. A POT can be offered to multiple clients. A single virtual lab supports all POT activities, regardless of where the client or facilitator are located.
As you know, the Proof of Concept (POC) engagement is targeted to clients ready to purchase, assuming the POC is successful. In our virtual model, during the installation/setup phase, the student practices each step on a virtual workstation under the guidance of the facilitator. The training offered to the POC team is identical to the POT exercise. Remote POCs are initially a 2-day session. Follow-on mentoring and mini sessions are scheduled as needed to ensure client milestones are met.
No travel means we can support a POC anywhere in the world. No travel expense means we can consider POCs at smaller opportunities. Like our other programs, we can offer a POC enablement session to multiple clients (3 to 5).
No travel costs/time for client reduces their overhead and cost objections. No travel or living expenses for Island is a tremendous savings, allowing us to engage in more presales activities. A single facilitator can run morning and afternoon sessions for widely separated groups. Sharing of a single virtual lab by all of our customers and facilitators significantly reduces our investment. The world is our backyard when client contact is via the web.
Closing slide to be included in all external presentations.
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