Don't stovepipe technologies - look at the bigger picture

When looking at a product (such as a firewall, router, IPS, etc.) to solve a problem, the product itself is often looked solely as a solution, and the other technical issues that arise from implementing the technology are not added to the equation. Also, the other possible benefits that a product provides are too often missed. Here's what I mean.

I had a meeting with a client and a partner of ours yesterday. We were discussing the results of an evaluation for the partner's product that the client had been performing for the last two weeks. When we starting discussing how the product had performed, it was clear that the client was looking solely at the product itself and its base function. While that is an understandable position to take (he was evaluating the product for these base features), we attempted to have him look more broadly at the implications of putting the device into production. The management interface, for example, was clearly two or three steps above the competition. This would mean that the learning curve for the administrator would be low (our client would not be the one administering the box after it was purchased). Also, the manufacturer offered another product that offered functionality in which the client had expressed intense interest, and it would fit seamlessly into the interface of the current product. These were two clear advantages that we expressed a few times through the meeting, and though the client acknowledged the benefits, he never seemed to fully grasp them.

Of course, by giving him the benefits above, the implied message was that the competitor's products did not provide such clear advantages. We wanted him to look at the implications of putting in a different product, meaning that the learning curve would be higher, and the administrator would also need to learn two separate interfaces when the other product was installed.

As an aside, one might be tempted to draw the conclusion that the reason the client would not look at the other benefits was because the product was inferior compared to the others he had evaluated. However, that is not the case at all. Actually, the device faired quite well, and the client sang its praises and expressed that it had performed excellently. He did have one hang up with the product, but it was not in the performance of the device. There was a piece of technology that the box used that the client was not convinced was appropriate for the enterprise. I suspect that he did not like the fact that this piece was open source, but he clearly said that the implementation of the technology was superior.

Back to the original point. Quite simply, we didn't want the client to make a mistake by stovepiping the function of the product. Yes, we wanted him to buy what we placed in fromt of him rather than the other products. But we also saw an issue and wanted to make sure the client was looking at the whole picture. If the client looks at the functions of the product in a narrow way, he might make a decision that he later regrets.