TechValidate Research on Innovative Interfaces

Introduction

This case study of a cultural institution is based on a January 2019 survey of Polaris customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service. The profiled organization asked to have their name blinded to protect their confidentiality.

Challenges

After evaluating multiple solutions, including Horizon and Symphony, the institution decided to go with Polaris.

They chose Polaris with the goal of:

• Improving the patron experience
• Reducing time spent on reporting and analysis
• Reducing time spent integrating with, and maintaining, third-party applications

Use Case

Their top reasons for purchasing Polaris included the ease of training and web-based mobility for public services and reference staff.

Key features that were a factor in going with Polaris included:

• Breadth and depth of ILS functionality
• Streamlined workflow and overall system efficiency
• Responsive discovery
• Web-based mobility
• Simplified reporting and analytics

Results

After switching to Polaris, the organization’s team reports that they’d be likely to purchase Innovative products again. They also rate Polaris as better than the competition when it comes to reporting and statistics, APIs and integrations, customization, performance, web-based mobility for staff, responsive discovery, and overall functionality.

Introduction

This case study of a medium enterprise cultural institution company is based on a January 2019 survey of Polaris customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service. The profiled company asked to have their name blinded to protect their confidentiality.

Challenges

After comparing with other solutions (including Carl), the team decided to go with Polaris. The key reasons they chose Polaris were to address the challenges of reducing time spent supporting discovery and circulation and improving the patron experience.

Use Case

Their primary reasons for choosing an Innovative product were the technical quality of current products and the quality of Innovative services, training, and support.

They purchased Polaris specifically for the following features:

• Breadth and depth of ILS functionality
• Streamlined workflow and overall system efficiency
• Responsive discovery
• Simplified reporting & analytics

Other factors in their decision to purchase the Polaris Web Application (LEAP) product included web-based mobility for public services and reference staff and the intuitive interface with flexible workflows.

Results

Overall, the organization would rate Innovative as better than the competition when it comes to implementation, customer and technical support, and ongoing services and training.

They would also rate Polaris as better than the competition on all of the following fronts:

• Overall functionality
• Performance
• Customization
• APIs & integrations
• Reporting & statistics
• Web-based mobility for staff
• Responsive discovery