How do you build a PoC for Software Development?

A proof of concept in software development is an advanced method for proving the capabilities of the product to a prospect on a technical level. This is usually done in a sandbox environment that is configured to the exact specifications of the prospect. POCs for software development are usually run after a sales demo has been given and the developer or prospect wants to test the actual product and see it in action in a real environment.

This is an essential part of the sales process. Before beginning a proof of concept, it is very important to know what the objectives of the software are so that you know what problem you are solving and what you are trying to accomplish. CloudShare offers the ability for users to conduct a software development proof of concept in the cloud.

By keeping the sales POC in an isolated environment, CloudShare’s specialized cloud, there is no worry that a user will potentially harm your production environment. Creating a proof of concept environment for sales engineers in CloudShare is done in a few simple steps:

1. In CloudShare, choose the “Create POC” wizard to walk you through setup (details here)
2. Create policies for POC environment expiration
3. Send out invitations to multiple recipients to access their own proof of concept environment

Managing POCs with CloudShare is also easy. You are given a list of each POC user that tracks their effectiveness and measures the value each is getting from the environment. You can see exactly when a prospect started using the POC, how much time they use it for, and exactly what parts they engage with.

CloudShare also offers BI analytics dashboards with intuitive graphs and charts to understand the overall usage of your proof of concept, from POCs in progress to pending ones and even drilling down to see which tabs and blueprints were utilized the most within the environments.

CloudShare supports your sales cycle by combining all of these capabilities and allowing you to understand who is using your POC the most within a prospect organization and follow up with them to move along the process, and close that sale.