It feels like we all took a wrong turn somewhere.
The destination was supposed to be meaningful conversations between software vendors and buyers, clarifying needs and creating problem-solving solutions.
And then we somehow ended up here. Where the people who will be using the software are too often left outside the room while purchasing and sales fight for the deal that benefits them the most.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to all software. Lots of great software is sold online with the swipe of a credit card, but it’s mostly one-size-fits-all and easy to implement and get started on. No complex integrations or organisational change management needed.
But that’s not the biotech and pharma world. Here everyone does the same but they all do it differently and there are plenty of things to consider before introducing new software to the tool stack. Lots of meetings and discussions and comprehensive RFPs. Which is all good, or at least it could be.
Because the funny thing (funny strange, definitely not funny ha-ha) is that after the initial horse and pony show where software vendors present their products to the prospective customer, the people with skin in the game are left outside the door.
Now Purchasing, IT, and Legal move in from the customer side, and on the seller side, it’s sales guys with an incredible ability to check all the “Yes” boxes in the RFP.
And this is where we took the wrong turn and broke software selling.
Because now it’s no longer a curious conversation between experts in drug discovery research.
Now it’s a different game.
And the main goal of this game is not to ensure that the scientific users get the software that fits best, integrated with the existing tools they have in a way that makes sense to them. No, the main goal is to make sure we win the game!
On the buyer’s side winning means we get everything we want (under the sun) for as little money as possible. And make sure we can hit the vendor hard if they don’t deliver.
On the seller’s side winning means we have to get the contract and as much money as we can possibly squeeze out of the customer while hiding all the stuff we actually cannot do at the moment but hope to solve along the way.
The only ones who can be almost sure not to win anything in this game are the scientific users who needed the software in the first place.
It’s not that I have anything against Corporate IT and Legal being deeply involved in the buying process. It’s necessary and makes a lot of sense, but the way purchasing is done today too often means that the actual needs of the scientific users are interpreted and translated beyond recognition.
It’s simply not the way we make the best possible software for the users.
So, we’ve decided it’s not our game. We still sell software, but only if we can have a conversation with the department that’s actually going to use it. The big RFP show is not for us. It is unbelievably time-consuming on both sides and in our eyes it does not add enough value to justify the resources that goes into it so we’ve decided to politely decline RFP invitations.
We are in the game to create meaningful solutions that help advance drug discovery, and as long as that is the focal point of the buying and selling conversation, we’re all in.