Ever hear a software platform sales pitch that seemed too good to be true? Beware – or should we say…Be Vaporwar-y. There are companies out there selling platforms that don’t really exist!
Maybe you’ve heard the term “vaporware” – but do you know what it means? For commercial real estate firms, not knowing the difference cause you to invest in woefully inadequate software.
What is vaporware?
So, what is vaporware? Vaporware is software – or a software platform – that is marketed as a finished product but, in reality, exists in partial form, or only on paper.
“Vaporware is software that’s hosted on PowerPoint, says Derek Thornhill, the Vice President of the Real Estate practice at Saxony Partners. “It is an illusion created by sales to kinda fake it until they create it.”
“It’s a salesperson telling you what you want to hear – ‘this will solve all the problems in the world,’” says Daryl Pitts, the senior vice president of sales for Pereview Software. “But it doesn’t exist – at least not the form they are selling it. Certainly, it’s not proven in real world applications.”
There are other definitions of vaporware, beyond just “software that’s not fully baked.”
Occasionally, companies will pitch a software platform that exists in principle or in beta form, in hopes that a capital investment from a patient client will push the project into its future state.
Technically, that makes it a custom buildout for a client, not a commercially available software platform – meaning that it might not work the same way for any other client.
The business costs associated with investing in a piece of software that’s not all there should be pretty obvious. At risk is both your bottom line and, well… your own personal bottom, if you get the drift.
The sales process for vaporware is pretty squirrelly, as you may imagine. Positioning your platform as one fully integrated, complete package that handles the entire lifecycle of the investment when that is not the case is dishonest, to be kind.
How can I tell when something is vaporware?
How do you sniff out a raw deal? Ask questions.
“Talk to someone who actually uses the product,” Thornhill says. “The narrative breaks down pretty quick if they are showing you something that no one is using.
“At Pereview, we’re happy to let you talk to our clients about their experience.”
Proven Asset Management Software for Commercial Real Estate
Commerical real estate asset managers need a dependable asset management software solution, one that integrates all of your data – from acquisition to disposition – into a Single Source of Truth. Pereview Software by Saxony Partners is the only Life of the Asset® solution on the market today.
Built by real estate professionals for the real estate industry, Pereview integrates siloed systems and processes, allows for push-button reporting, provides customized dashboards, and establishes standard workflows and guidelines for data and asset management.
Let’s chat about how you can do more with your data. Schedule a demo and interact with the software directly, then chat with our clients to confirm that, far from vaporware, Pereview is the only all-in-one solution you need for commercial real estate asset management.
More Information About Vaporware
If you need some more help identifying and combating vaporware, check you these articles in out “Be Vaporwar-y” series.
