Over the last few months there has been various webEx, gotoMeeting, Live Meeting, etc of product demonstrations that I’ve been a part of as a participant.

Some General Thoughts:

• If you are showing a web based application use a SSL Certificate and https:// If you are going to show a web-interface that you log in with a username and password or shows account numbers please do this- you can used a self-signed cert, but I get nervous about demo’s without this- It is just sloppy not to do.
• Mask Account Numbers when they are displayed. I get really nervous about this type of stuff and question your security posture.
• Don’t use account numbers and PIN as authentication method, (although there are certain instances where this is acceptable) don’t make this the default option.
• If you are showing a payment system – understand what PABP and PA-DSS are – and if you have customers that are "PCI Complaint" running it, this isn’t the same to me.
• Show a finished product, links that go to "Not yet completed" or pages that are not consistent in look and feel confuse me.
• When I ask how many ‘Live Customers’ use this product, I want to know about in production, not in the sales pipeline.
• If it is a MS Windows/SQL Server based product, don’t list Windows Std. Edition and MSSQL Standard Edition as required software – We need enterprise level software, there is a huge delta in TCO in licensing fees.

Things to do right:

• Simulate a live transaction against a simulator or other tool showing that it is a real system and is functional.
• Walk me through the life-cycle of certain processes that I care about.
• Be able to explain "how you would implement X" or modify Y, or how your system deals with "Z"
• I know that a product won’t solve all of my needs, so I’m looking for synergies with your team to be partners with a relationship to get your product to fit my needs.
• Be able to speak my language, and have a few competent people driving the demo.
• Show me how "someone would use this" application in the real world.

Hugh Bursi, Director of Marketing of OLS worked with the Green Sheet to put this company profile together. Although the article doesn’t reference me or my 12 years of Payment Experience  (Which is small compared to Hugh and Andy’s ) at a Third Party Processor as Director of Technology and Development where I worked with both Insuring and Acquiring Bank’s and ISO’s, it is a great article and great to be in The Green Sheet!