Perhaps it is because of the tradeshow we just went to, or maybe because of the emails I have been getting lately, but my mind is on the business case for VistaDB. 

At a normal tradeshow you have non-techies and super techies.  You normally get a high level person come around and see things that are interesting, and then they come back with their geek to try and stump you with esoteric questions that rarely come into play in the real world.  The head guy feels good because their geek is earning their pay.  The geek feels good because he has job security.  How does that help the business?  It doesn’t.

At devLink we didn’t have that mix at all.  Most of the people were working programmers.  They had real world questions. 

• “How can I deploy the database?” 

• “What about backup and restoration?” 

• “Can I query a read only backup DVD?”

• “Can I use my existing SQLClient programming skills, or do I have to start over again?”

These are real questions.  We also got the questions people knew their boss would ask as soon as they bring up a new API / SDK / Tool

• “What does it cost? And how can I budget it?”

• “What are our costs to deploy to x number of clients?”

• “Who else uses it?”

• “How long have you been around?”

When you get those questions you know that the person you are talking to is in business.  They know that anything they propose will have to be backed up by a business case for why they need it.  These were questions I have asked myself many times in the past.

Over the next few blog posts I am going to attempt to make that business case.  Explain why I feel VistaDB is a terrific value for your money, and why we are a company you should partner with for your database needs.