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No Commitment, No risk: The Power of Software Free Trials


Software free trials are an excellent way to explore new software and get hands-on experience with new technology. They give you the opportunity to try out a product without any upfront cost or long-term obligation.

Whilst reviews and demos can be useful, getting hands-on experience with a software solution gives you deeper insight into its potential value for your workflows. You can assess performance, ease of use, business fit, integration capabilities, and much more, with no cost or risk attached.


Why choose a software free trial?

Zero commitment

Explore the software without having to sign a contract or make a payment.

Explore before you buy

Understand more about the full capabilities of the software and explore the features.

Evaluate at your own pace

Use the software as part of your daily tasks with no pressure to make quick decisions.

Hands-on experience

Explore the functionality and get a good feel for its usability.


What you can learn from a software free trial

Software free trials enable you to assess the suitability of a product against several factors. More than just exploring the technology, a free trial enables you to put it to the test in everyday tasks and workflows, learn more about whether it meets the needs of your business, and understand how it might fit with the other systems you use. A free trial is also a great opportunity to demonstrate the product’s value to your business.

As part of a software free trial, you’ll learn more about:

Ease of use

Watching demos, reading reviews, and spending time on research can be worthwhile and should form part of your consideration process. However, the hands-on experience you’ll get from a free trial can make a real difference. You can put the software to the test on your use cases, see how it fits into your workflow, and assess its usability. Free trials are also a great way of learning more about features, underlying technology, and integration capabilities.

Fit for your needs

Using the software as part of your everyday tasks enables you to assess whether it will do what you need it to. Hands-on testing will give you more insight than user guides and technical specs, and you’ll see whether the technology streamlines your workflow or adds unnecessary steps. During a free software trial, you’ll also be able to evaluate fit with other business systems and other users. Think about how your teammates might use it and how it will integrate with other systems in your workflow.

Performance

Understanding performance capabilities is a key part of free software trials. Testing the software in different scenarios will help you assess how it will perform in a wide-scale rollout and how it might be used across different locations. Performance evaluation will give the information you need to understand how the software will impact your key business metrics and how much value it can deliver.


Getting the most out of a software free trial

To get the most out of a software free trial, it’s important to have a clear plan with a measurable set of goals. At the end of the trial, you should have a clear view of whether you want to go ahead and purchase the software. Here are some of our top tips for getting the most out of a software free trial:

Set goals

Before you start a free trial, it’s worth spending some time setting out what you want to achieve. Set achievable and measurable goals for the free trial period so you can effectively evaluate success.

Explore fully

Get under the hood of the different technology features, to identify and focus on the software capabilities that align with your goals. Test out features on your workflows to see what benefits you achieve.

Document your findings

Documenting your findings throughout the free trial period will help you to effectively evaluate the software and enable you to easily share your findings with teammates, managers, and other business stakeholders.

Involve other teams

Involving colleagues from other teams will enable you to see how the software performs for business-wide workflows and how it integrates with different systems used in other areas of your business. Involving a wider group can also help to understand wider business value.

Understand scalability

Think about how the software will work as your team grows, or as the needs of your business change. It’s important to consider these factors at this point to avoid buyer’s remorse later and ensure long-term value.


Learn more about software free trials


Start a 30-day free trial of DriveWorks Solo today

DriveWorks Solo is the ideal solution to transform how you design, configure, and sell custom products. Using DriveWorks Solo, design engineers automate repetitive SOLIDWORKS® tasks, freeing up more time to work on new product design. Automating and streamlining the process of designing, configuring, and selling products drives sales and improves business efficiency.

Make the most of a DriveWorks Solo 30-day free trial by setting clear goals, testing key features on real projects, and making the most of a whole host of free training material. Use the time to evaluate its impact on your workflows and ensure it meets your needs. You can also set up a meeting with a technical expert from the DriveWorks team to help you get off to the best start.

Get direct access to the people who know our software best

Take advantage of the wealth of experience held by our DriveWorks technical experts. They are DriveWorks specialists who are skilled in helping you to set and achieve realistic goals for your 30-day trial period. Schedule a call at the start of your trial and take advantage of additional check-in calls over the following 30 days to stay on track.

Full access to learning resources

As part of your DriveWorks Solo free trial, you will also have access to a full collection of online learning resources, including an online help file, sample projects, and How To videos. Quickly and easily find answers to any questions you have, enabling you to maximize your progress and achieve your goals.

Get a head start on automation

The DriveWorks technical experts will be able to take a look at your existing SOLIDWORKS models and drawings so they can provide guidance on the best way to automate them and share best practices when modeling for design automation. That way you can get a head start and start automating quickly.

Start your free trial today, with no credit card required.