Pilot or Trial Agreement

What is a Pilot or Trial Agreement?

Before diving in headfirst, prospective enterprise customers will often request a trial/pilot or evaluation of your software service on a limited scale to ensure it meets their requirements. 

The pilot agreement, also known as a ‘trial agreement’ or ‘evaluation agreement’, outlines the scope of the trial and in some cases the intention to purchase the software if the trial meets expectations.

Why is a Pilot or Trial Agreement important?

Pilots can represent a great opportunity for your company to showcase your software, and successful pilots with prospective customers can lead directly to full contracts which will no doubt help with funding. As with any project, a pilot carries risks, many of which can be mitigated with a clear pilot agreement, this includes:

Wherever possible pilots should be linked to a potential future software agreement and this agreement allows you to include details of what a future contract might look like. It is important that you are realistic about the schedule. Remember that large enterprises are very unlikely to move at the speed of your business.

The agreement allows the scope to extend the pilot whilst, at the same time, protecting dates set by which decisions should be made. The criteria for what is deemed a successful pilot must be clearly defined within the pilot agreement. Spending time to ensure both parties are very clear on the objectives will increase the chances of the pilot leading to a final agreement.