I get it - you don't want to be sold by a salesperson. Meeting with sales is about learning and leveraging my expertise to how we might solve your issue. And then judging fit for us both. Our integration solutions typically require multiple meetings and check-ins with various stakeholders in your organization. We can both enter this discussion knowing that a "no" or "no fit" is valid for either of us at any point.
Making the most of your first meeting with Spatial DNA is important for us - and we want to be sure it is valuable for you. We want to understand the problems you are facing - AND you want to know if we can solve them. Below is a list of questions we will be asking - we won't expect written answers - but thinking about these ahead of time will drive more value for you.
You can expect the following outcomes from our first meeting:
- Can we solve your problem? Is there a software license that matches your needs?
- Does Spatial DNA's delivery model match your expectations?
- Start a Mutual Action Plan (MAP) describing the information, key stakeholders, and next steps at following meetings to learn more and support your decision.
We'll break our questions into the five Ws (who, what, where, when, why) and how.
WHY is integration a challenge or opportunity?
People come to us because they find inefficiencies in their processes - typically extra manual effort, moving data through spreadsheets or emails, or generating reports to feed business processes in other departments. Often inefficiency presents an opportunity for significant cost savings - particularly where inventory, physical assets, facilities, infrastructure, or people are concerned.
Think of what frustrates you most when providing data about your operations to another department or status updates to your customers and partners. Or think of all of the manual steps involved in re-keying information into other systems as you work through a business process.
List the challenges or opportunities that integration will resolve. If you have any business benefits as a result - that's a bonus :)
OR
List current integrations that don't work and what is going wrong.
WHO is involved from other departments?
Business processes typically work across multiple departments. There are often approval steps needed by another department or a manager that does not use the key system where you do all your work. Who requests spreadsheets, data exports, or reports to support their needs? Who is constantly asking for the status of a job?
These are your stakeholders.
Identify the departments or functional areas within your organization that would be impacted by integrating systems and automating processes.
WHERE are you connecting?
Most organizations are moving some of their operations to cloud-based applications. But many are still operated locally within your network for security reasons or because they are mission-critical to your operations.
List the applications you need to connect to and where each is hosted - in the cloud as a "service" or "on-premise" (in your data centre or on Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, or Google Compute infrastructure).
WHEN do you need your integration done?
Integration is often explored when you update, replace, or acquire a new application. Moving a system to the cloud may present particular integration challenges for you, as you don't typically have access to the data anymore except through published interfaces. Application vendors or their implementation partners are often reluctant to tack integration activities onto your project as they add risk and cost.
Our onboarding time is 60 days or less for most requirements.
List any major application acquisitions, upgrades, or transitions to cloud services along with the accompanying timelines for completion.
WHAT is your budget expectation?
The Spatial DNA Platform has a one-time setup fee as well as subscription licenses for each automation. Customers typically purchase 2 Automations and our Spatial DNA Community Edition in their first transaction. Year 1 subscription and setup fees are typically capitalized.
We'll run through our Predictive Support model, where we self-report and fix issues with your integration before you know there's an issue. We add enhancements at your request throughout the term, and upgrade the core integration platform. In short, we manage the integrations so you don't have to.
Consider the percentage of your project budget dedicated to integration development and your ongoing support costs for integration.
HOW do you buy technology?
We discussed your stakeholders in a previous question. But wait - there are more... When you purchase new technology, who else do you need approval from? Typically, people from IT, procurement, and finance are involved in the buying process. You may also have approval levels where you can sole-source from your favorite supplier, get quotations from a small group of suppliers, or issue a formal request for proposal (RFP).
Outline your buying process for the following dollar levels:
- $10,000 - $25,000
- $25,000 - $50,000
- $50,000+
