Archiving Truths
Learn the Truth About Archiving:
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ZL and its partners work with many different customers, of which there are two fundamental types: Casual and Serious.
Casual Customers:
As can be imagined, most customers fall into the Casual corner. Casual customers tend to take a relatively light hand when evaluating new solutions. There may be an RFP involved, perhaps a simple, functional PoC, but certainly no bake-off’s between vendors. But the most common trait of casual customers is that they tend to rely heavily upon the opinion and guidance of analysts or consultants in their decision.
Whereas industry analysts are strong resources for netting a list of potential solution candidates, they will also be the first to say that each customer must recognize that their own needs differ from those of other customers, and that ultimately, each customer must decide on a solution based upon their own unique needs or requirements.
Unfortunately, most Casual customers find themselves in the role of customer more than once. Usually within 18 to 24 months of implementing their first solution. This repeats indefinitely, at least until they get lucky or they become Serious customers before then.
Casual customers, tend to become Serious customers the second time around. This is a costly mistake, but a trend that is becoming less and less as customers are more aware of the truth behind the various archival vendors.
Serious Customers:
Serious customers differ in one key aspect from Casual customers: they see things for themselves. Instead of reading about “awards” or so called industry “reviews” or analysts ratings, Serious customers take a first hand approach to evaluating solutions for themselves with their own requirements and needs foremost in mind.
They recognize that on paper, every archiving solution appears to do the same thing, work the same way with the same success rate. Yet, reality tells us differently. Horror stories for customers large and small say that not all solutions are created equal.
RFPs are simply an entry ticket for vendors to enter the Serious show. PoC’s are important but not more so than a genuine bake-off between vendors to prove their abilities side-by-side. Serious customers evaluate the solution for the long term.
Serious customers also ask a lot of questions. They draw upon commonsense and are not satisfied by platitudes and claims made from a position of arrogance. Proof is the order of the day.
As it turns out, most serious customers are ones who have been burned by making assumptions in the past.
The best way to view vendors is as though they are running a shell game. They try to keep your attention with one hand, while they take your wallet with the other. And, in fact, what is interesting is not what vendors tell customers, but what they don't tell customers. So make sure to always ask questions, don’t take whatever is said at face value, and validate what is being claimed. If something doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t.