Is there anything more important that listening to customers for all of us in software implementation and development. SmartView was written because our customers kept asking for it. I have to admit that initially while I thought it was a good idea – I was not convinced it was going set our sales on fire.

I have been extraordinarily lucky in the past few years to look after presales for some great products in Extender and SmartConnect. There is nothing better than doing demos that literally ‘knock the socks off’ the audience. When I started showing off SmartView I was a little nervous – I had a good demo but not what I thought was an amazing demo.

As it turns out I should have been listening to customers and not worrying about my demo. Customers were amazed and falling off their chair to get hold of SmartView. SmartView is just what customers were looking for – and each one loved it for a different reason. Some desperately needed the speed. Others simply wanted to move the divider line on the screen. Another customer really wanted the unlimited filters.

None of these features are amazing in their own right, but to a GP customer they were just the tonic. In fact customers did not want amazing – they wanted something that helped them do their day to day job a whole lot easier.

As a result I have been amazed at the sales of SmartView in just its first few weeks. Customers just can not get it quick enough. I really should not be surprised as this is exactly what customers were asking for.