Software presentations

We've run across this quite a few times: a client has a great software or Web application and wants to present it to their customer. Unfortunately it's not always that simple. Your developers have more than enough to do, without setting up a demonstration environment and a load of dummy data. And what happens when you get to the presentation and can't get online?

Our software simulations operate exactly like your real application, using dummy - but realistic - data, and completely independently of any Web connection. There's no need for special accounts or demonstration environments, and no risk to your system or your security.

In fact it's so powerful, one client asked us to prototype their software, and ended up using the prototype as the actual product!

HSBC Merchant Services recently asked us to produce a sales demonstration for their excellent Global Access@dvantage management information software.

We've built multiple uses into the product: it can be set to run PowerPoint-style, operated by a presenter, as a sit-and-watch proposition, with voice-over and automatic timing, or in fully interactive mode, with a feature-rich simulation of the system in action.

I've put together a detailed page with more about this demonstration presentation.

Reflex has developed a world-class business forecasting system. It's an immensely poweful beast that's packed with features for any company needing to forecast and manage its processes. But all that power can make for a complicated presentation.

We simulated more than twenty of the software's modules, using dummy data tables that can be easily adjusted to make them meaningful to the customer.

To hold it all together, we built a persuasive presentation that includes a customer-facing version of our Module Manager. This lets Reflex choose the priority items that they want to cover, but allows their customer to change these priorities on the fly. These priorities are captured during the presentation and fed back to the customer at the end to show how their Reflex system will be customised. This information is also available back at base to facilitate writing ideally matched proposals.

The simulation turns a sales presentation into a solution consultation, immediately moving Reflex forward to the next sales stage.

SML Gresham's capability in producing tickets and labels for the retail fashion industry was already widely understood when we came on board with them. But how their success - particularly their industry-leading supply chain reliability - was achieved was harder to show. They needed a way to prove their leadership to prospective clients.

One of the key elements in their capability was their Web-based ticket management system. We helped them move it from the back room to the centre of their proposition with a new brand - featuring their own logo "opened up" to show the workings within.

The software simulation doesn't need any Web connection, and the records are automatically updated every time the presentation is run, so they're always up to date. It's easy to drop in their customer's own tickets and pricing, so they can present a convincing demonstration and win new customers.

It's also an ideal training tool. Trainees can completely explore the software without endangering any real data or the real management system.