I recently came
across a new tool that could rather dramatically improve the way that POC’s are
done today. It is called Virtual Labs (the
company is called Cloud People - http://www.virtuallabs.com.au). The tool was originally developed to enable
training of IT staff, but they pivoted a few years back and have produced
capabilities that enable POC’s to be prepared, delivered, tracked and managed
in some delightfully new ways.
Traditionally, it
often takes (substantial) time to build POC environments – Virtual Labs can cut
this to a fraction. But wait, there’s
more…!
Once a POC is
deployed, it is often tough to see how the customer is using the environment. Are they using it at all? Are they running into problems? Are they working the tasks/use cases that
were agreed upon?
Virtual Labs
enable vendors to generate complex POC environments rapidly, hand them over to customers
(via a browser); and track and manage the use
by the customer. Vendors get direct insight
into how the customer is progressing – see the time spent using the software,
number of users, logins, etc. Vendors
can also set triggers to uncover problems or issues (e.g., is the user is
taking too long to complete a task?).
If the customer
has a question or problem, a browser-based q&a session can be established
with the vendor right within the environment, if I understand correctly. Libraries of use cases can be pre-prepared
and deployed as desired, as well.
This looks like a
potentially game-changing tool for POC’s – check it out!
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