The “great deal” that never was.
When it comes to buying technology, I’ve heard it all. Those that feel they paid too much and those that couldn’t turn down the heavy discounting and “amazing deal”.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that deal probably isn’t what you thought it was.
The situation
You decided to move forward with bringing in some new technology. The vendor offers multiple solutions and you get a higher discount based on how many solutions you bring into your tech stack. They churn out numbers showing the discounting and ultimately rope you in with things like, “it’s a free year,” “eliminating this will make things more expensive” and “you can just let it sit while you figure other things out.”
The challenges
On the surface, it appears as though you’re getting a good deal. In reality, you need to be clear on what you’re trying to do and what you aim to accomplish to know the true value.
As you weigh how much of a deal you’re really getting, you’ll want to consider:
Timing of the deal: These deals are usually tied to deadlines. Sometimes, the deadlines are artificial. Other times, the deadlines are tied to sales cycles. In the worst cases, the deadlines are merely tied to an incentive for the salesperson and you’re a pawn in the game.
Implementation timelines: Knowing how long an implementation may take and being realistic about the timeline will ensure you aren’t sitting with a bunch of “free” tools that you’ll never touch before contract renewal.
How fast you can scale: Knowing how long it takes to implement a tool, learn to use the tool and start seeing success is critical to knowing when it’s appropriate to bring in additional tools. Implementing multiple tools at once is often not a good strategy for most teams.
Team talent gaps: Many tools require specialized knowledge. If teams don’t already have this knowledge, the learning curve is high. If you anticipate keeping this all in-house, you can expect the work to be slow, the impact to be minimal and frustrations to skyrocket.
Budget: If you lack the internal knowledge and skill, you’ll be forced to outsource talent or hire a new headcount. If you have the money, no worries. If you need to find the money, you can expect some pretty hefty costs.
Why it matters
Sadly, I’ve seen quite a few organizations taken advantage of with the “amazing deal” that never was. Whether they were victim of a salesperson making quota for an incentive or truly believed the deal was good, the “amazing deal” rarely makes sense.
Implementation timelines are often underscoped, workloads are impractical and expectations of employees are unrealistic. While you may think an implementation will take six months and you can get right into another, you aren’t allocating the time needed to learn and grow with the platform.
In my experience, I almost always advise skipping the “great deal” and focusing on doing one thing really well. When you need that “great deal” offer, it always tends to be there.