User groups, which provide self-help and a customer-controlled forum for interacting with the vendors of software products, are there to help users to extract the maximum value from software purchases. A decade ago, it was necessary for a user group to make a point of organizing physical meetings, and because of the cost (in time and money) of these meetings, they were structured to make the best use of each opportunity.
User groups flourished in that environment. Users of early versions of new products or releases would often report on their experiences, providing unbiased information about the quality of a release, the benefits it could deliver, and the prerequisite work that needed to be carried out. Vendors would use the meetings as a sounding board for new ideas before committing to new product development, best practices would be discussed and important regional differences could be aired and local requirements made plain to the vendor.
Now, with few exceptions, user groups are much more likely to be conducted almost entirely by email or bulletin boards, with perhaps one large international meeting per year. These annual jamborees tend to attract so many attendees that it becomes a real logistical effort to find people with common issues that are willing to collaborate on finding a solution or work-around. Only with the more liberal (or self-confident) vendors are users encouraged to establish their own agenda items independently from the marketing-oriented vendor sessions.
Those user groups that do have regular country-level meetings tend to be those that were well-established before the onset of pervasive email, and therefore are built around products that are very stable, and have less need for a vibrant user community. Local user group meetings are most productive when the product is new or evolving rapidly. It is in the nature of things that products in those phases have bugs that need work-arounds, and the relative urgency of ‘forthcoming features’ needs to be discussed so that users can agree to press the vendor to prioritize the most critical features and fixes.
As with all meetings of this nature, it is frequently the informal discussions over coffee or sandwiches that provide the most valuable information and ideas. These chance conversations are much less likely to take place in an electronic medium, but once a topic has been initiated, a new special interest group (SIG) can be created that can meet periodically, but communicate as frequently as needed, by electronic media.
Because electronic communication is cheap, reliable and pervasive, it does not mean that the effort in organizing and attending physical meetings is a poor use of resources. The need to show that they represent a good investment in time and money means that physical user group meetings are likely to be better structured, and provide a balance of best practices, problem resolution, forward thinking, and vendor influencing. The voice of users when gathered together physically provides a much more powerful message to vendors than occasional, unco-ordinated emails from dissatisfied customers.
Some vendors are concerned that this capability can be a negative influence on potential customers, but usually, once a vendor has demonstrated that it listens to concerns and takes action on important issues, user group meetings become a valuable sales aid.
Vendors, particularly those seeking to extend their influence in new geographical markets, should provide local resources to encourage their users to form effective local user groups. In the end, everybody gains.
Source: OpinionWire by Butler Group (www.butlergroup.com)
