To Go, or Not To Go, That is the Question

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It’s a new year. Spring is coming. That means the first trade show season of the year is coming. (Fall will be next.) That means a whole bunch of budgetary decisions have to be weighed against a whole bunch of social decisions. Given the gravity of those decisions, we decided to debate the issue amongst ourselves, pro and con. Here’s what happened:

Pro: Hey. How you doin?

Con: Really? That’s how you start a debate?

Pro: Sorry. I think we should sign up for the trade shows because we get to see people we haven’t seen in a while.

Con: Have we ever acquired a new customer as a direct result of attending a trade show?

Pro: No. But if we’re not there, people will think we’re in trouble.

Con: Yeah. But if we go and there are no prospects there, we will be in trouble.

Pro: Given the size of our marketing budget, we can afford to go.

Con: Since the commitment to going costs tens of thousands of dollars, what else might we do with our marketing dollars that could be more effective?

Pro: I have to admit that’s a good question. But I don’t know that anything else is as effective as person-to-person communication.

Con: Do we yet know the effect COVID will have on trade-show attendance in the future?

Pro: No. But isn’t going the best way to find out?

Con: Yes. But it’s also the most expensive way to find out.

Pro: Then what should we do?

Con: I don’t know. Let’s think about it.

Pro: Have I ever told you how much I admire your decisiveness?

The Real Question

The levity of the preceding conversation notwithstanding, that kind of debate goes on in most companies in most years. This year, the debate is likely to be a little murkier thanks to COVID, even though (or maybe because) we seem to be shaking it off in some places (and not in others). But the debate will never go away.

As always, the resolution of the debate will depend on some subjective combination of personal predilections, budgetary considerations, and incremental value. On one hand, we managed to survive two years with virtually no trade shows (but lots of virtual ones). On the other hand, if we don’t show, we run the risk of being perceived as having gone dark.

To go, or not to go, that isn’t the real question. The real question is: What’s the cost of either choice?

Choose wisely.

No-Code/Low-Code Expectations

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After seeing a sizable number of articles and posts about the application of no-code/low-code (NC/LC) development in insurance, we recently conducted a Google search on that precise topic — no code/low code in insurance. The search yielded 4,920,000,000 hits, leading us to the conclusion that the topic might not be that new or novel. One of the hits we got was an article from the research and evaluation firm, AIMultiple, entitled, “Impact of the Low/No-Code Platforms on the Insurance Sector”. It said this, in part:

Low/no-code practices democratize and accelerate the software development process thanks to their graphical interface that reduces or eliminates the need to write code. It is an opportunity for insurers, pushing them to develop solutions that solve their business problems quickly … By using low/no-code development, insurance companies can:

  • Decrease sunk costs of their IT investments significantly,
  • Quickly adapt to the changing environment,
  • Increase their operational efficiency by eliminating the negative effects of skills differentials among their employees.

We don’t mean to be arrogant. But it was by precisely that logic, for exactly those reasons, that we introduced our Design Studio in 2018. It comprises the exact same toolset our developers and designers use. And it’s built on a no-code platform

SOS

The subhead above isn’t the familiar distress signal. Rather it’s the abbreviation for Shiny Object Syndrome. We understand technology companies have marketing jobs to do to attract interest in their products. We understand consultants have technologies to tout to attract interest in their services. We understand the trade media have sales jobs to do to attract readers and advertisers to their publications. And we understand some chasms are wider and take longer to cross than others. So, we appreciate the fact that some things are hyped beyond their sell-by dates.

But sometimes we can’t help but wish that the trade media would publicize what’s real and in use, just as we wish the news media would publicize the good news that takes place and the good deeds that are being done every day.

We’re familiar with the journalistic phrase, if it bleeds, it leads. And we know sensationalism sells.

But sliced bread, bottled beer, and NC/LC have been done. We can be more creative than this.