We have been working on creating a series of Buyer’s Guides for our 4 products. In this article, I will discuss why a buyer’s guide is worth having, what is included in our buyer’s guide and how it can help developers.
Why Write a Buyer’s Guide?
Creating a buyer’s guide had been on our wish list for a while now, as we realised how important it could be for developers. We wanted it to succinctly explain what our products are and what makes them worth purchasing.
By asking and answering qualifying questions, the buyer’s guide serves as a resource for developers to better understand the factors that could influence their decision to choose a solution.
The Process
We have been developing and selling commercial software to developers for the last 2 decades. During this time, we have seen a lot of developers struggle to understand which solution would be right for the particular problem they were facing.
The Reality of PDF Complexity
PDFs are the standard nowadays for document sharing across the world. Yet the intricacies involved in programmatically handling PDFs are far and wide. This is the reason why developers struggle to “unlock” the file format, bringing real business implication to document workflows.
Framework for Technical Decision-Making
Through this buyer’s guide we wanted to help developers better understand the factors to decide which solution works best for them. It will assist technical stakeholders in choosing between open source or commercial options based on the specific requirements.
The True Cost of Building Inhouse
Since developers would rather “build the solution” themselves, there is also a section that explores the cost in terms of time and effort needed to do so. Part of the content would also explain the varying level (and different types) of support offered.
Timeline and Maintenance ROI
Through this Buyer’s guide, we wanted to also simulate development time for technical teams, while exploring typical use cases (their subsequent requirements) and the real life maintenance cost involved.
Much of the inspiration for the buyer’s guides was based on the work of April Dunford. We have multiple copies of her excellent book Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It
Between those steps and the final product, there was a lot of scrutinising and reviewing, mostly the content but also how to present it. We wanted the buyer’s guides to reflect how much development has gone into these products to make them efficient in fixing certain pain points.
What to include in a Buyer’s Guide?
The structure of our Buyer’s Guide includes:
An Introduction to Our Products
The Build vs Buy Dilemma
- The Hidden Complexity of PDF Processing
- Development Timeline: The Reality Check
- The Maintenance Burden
- When Building Actually Makes Sense
- Frequently Asked Questions
Choosing a PDF Library
- Understanding Your Requirements
- Evaluating Specific Libraries
- Evaluation Scorecard for Making your Decision
- Implementation and Beyond
- Downloads and Resources
We hope that this buyer’s guide provides insights to developers struggling to choose the right solution for their PDF problems. By assessing the requirements of your particular project, you can make a more informed decision, using our Buyer’s guide.
Our software libraries allow you to
| Convert PDF files to HTML |
| Use PDF Forms in a web browser |
| Convert PDF Documents to an image |
| Work with PDF Documents in Java |
| Read and write HEIC and other Image formats in Java |
