Can All of These Customers Be Wrong?

“As a customer of Forward Networks I can tell you that I wouldn’t want to ever be without their software. Even the simplest task of finding a mac address or IP address on your network is done instantaneously on Forward Enterprise. The amount of time this has saved my team is worth every penny of the investment.”

—Network Architect & Engineer, Consumer Financial Services company

This was posted on LinkedIn a few weeks ago, in response to a post that didn’t even come from us. As a marketer, I was delighted…it’s not often that customers speak up independently and unprompted about how much they love a particular software package. 

Network engineers and network administrators are an especially tough audience. They’re smart, extremely tech-savvy, and they can sniff out marketing BS in a hot minute. They might not trust anything a vendor says (probably from being burned by too many audacious vendors with bold claims), but they might trust their peers. 

Let’s face it: all software providers are trying to convince you that their offering is game-changing. Only in a few cases is that actually true. I get unsolicited email every day from companies trying to sell me the latest and greatest in lead attribution, media monitoring, account-based marketing, event management, and everything else that matters to a marketing team. Everyone wants to solve a problem they assume I have. (On a related note, my personal inbox is stuffed with messages pitching whiter teeth, younger skin, and more comfortable underwear. They’re probably more accurate on the problems. 😉 One learns to read with a suspicious eye. 

So why not let customers do all of the talking? After all, who better to evangelize your product than the USERS? At Forward, we’re lucky to have very large, well-known businesses on our client list, including some of the world’s largest banks, payment processors, entertainment providers, media conglomerates, and government entities. For the most part, they’re in highly regulated industries and need to stay confidential, but here are few snippets they’ve provided to software review portals like G2 and Gartner Peer Insights (or tweeted): 

“Forward Networks has really impressed us. It’s a very ambitious solution they’re providing and the quality of both their engineering and support have proven to be really top notch. I’m a tools engineer myself, so I understand how hard it is to do what they’ve done with this product. At our scale many tools just get crushed. Theirs held up really well under a vigorous POC and just keeps getting better.”

—Software Engineer (Network Tools) in the Communications Industry

“Seeing is believing. Forward Networks’ visibility seems pretty close to a holy grail.”

—Network Architect 

“Forward Networks has rapidly developed to make the network visible, easy to understand, improve automation, and reduce outages to the network, applications and business process. This tool has an impressive wow factor to all engineers who review it. It can help reduce risks and ensure outcomes for SRE teams, DevOps and CI/CD functions.”

—Head of Engineering Quality, $30B Communications Business

“Forward Networks has carefully crafted a robust product and provides all the support needed to help its customers achieve success. Passionate engagements from team leaders and strong desire to gather feedback and improve the product makes FN standout as a reliable and continually evolving solution.”

—Team Lead, Enterprise Architecture and Technology Innovation

Honestly, I can’t do much better than that when it comes to convincing network operators at large companies that it’s worth piloting the software. Want instant visibility into your network? Check. Want to easily spot landmines in the network before they cause an outage? Check. Want world-class service and support? You bet. 

If your job involves managing a complex network, just humor me and go request a demo. If I turn out to be wrong, email me at lisagarvey@forwardnetworks.com. If I’m right, please join the ranks of happy customers and write a review.