CHALLENGE 02
Mistaking a Successful Pilot for Commercial Validation
A successful pilot can be an important milestone in a Health IT sale. It can demonstrate that the technology works, generate enthusiasm among users, and provide evidence that the solution can create value in a real provider environment.
But a pilot answers only part of the commercial question.
It may prove that the technology works in one department, with one group of users, under one set of conditions.
It does not automatically prove that the hospital or health system is prepared to fund, operationalize, govern, implement, and scale the solution across the organization.
That distinction matters because Health IT companies can spend months celebrating pilot success while the provider is still trying to determine whether the solution is ready for broader adoption.
A successful pilot proves value in one setting. It does not automatically prove the organization is ready to scale.
Seller’s Lens vs. Buyer’s Lens
Health IT companies often view a successful pilot as evidence that the sale has been validated. The provider is evaluating something broader: whether the results can be reproduced, supported, funded, integrated, adopted, and governed at greater scale.
SELLER'S LENS
"The Pilot Worked!"
The seller sees:
Enthusiastic users
Strong product performance
Successful implementation
Measurable improvement
Evidence that the solution delivers value
Validation in a live provider environment
A strong internal success story
Expectation that success should lead to expansion
Positive clinical or operational results
BUYER'S LENS
“Can we make this work beyond the pilot?”
The provider is asking:
Can the results be reproduced elsewhere?
What resources were required to make the pilot successful?
Will implementation become harder at scale?
Does the workflow work across other departments or facilities?
What will enterprise integration require?
Are security and governance requirements satisfied?
Who owns the solution operationally?
What will broader deployment actually cost?
Is leadership prepared to fund expansion?
Pilot success and scale readiness are two different milestones.
Why This Becomes a GTM Problem
When the scale decision has not been designed into the pilot, a Health IT company can reach the end of a successful evaluation without being any closer to an enterprise buying decision.
The Pilot Works, but Nothing Happens
The provider agrees the results are positive, yet no expansion decision follows.
Success Metrics Were Too Narrow
The pilot measured product performance without addressing the criteria leadership will use to approve broader deployment.
One Department Loves It
A local champion is enthusiastic, but enterprise stakeholders were never involved.
The Vendor Did Too Much
The pilot succeeded because the vendor supplied extraordinary implementation or support resources that cannot be repeated at scale.
Enterprise Requirements Arrive Late
Security, integration, governance, procurement, or operational ownership were deferred until after the pilot.
“We Need to Evaluate Next Steps”
The pilot ends successfully, but no one agreed in advance what successful results would trigger.
The pilot may be testing the technology without actually advancing the sale.
Provider Perspective:
Dr. Barry Katzen
Chief Medical Innovation Officer, Baptist Health South Florida
Design the Scale Decision Before You Design the Pilot
A pilot should not exist simply to determine whether an interesting technology works.
The more commercially useful question is what the organization needs to learn in order to make the next decision.
That means defining the unmet need, the expected outcome, the stakeholders who need evidence, and what successful results would need to demonstrate before the pilot begins.
For a Health IT company, the implication is important:
The objective of the pilot should not merely be successful completion. It should be to generate the evidence required for the provider’s next buying decision.
Marisa Farabaugh
Chief Supply Chain Officer, AdventHealth
A Local Win Is Not Yet a System Standard
Large health systems often contain significant variation across facilities, departments, workflows, leadership structures, and operating environments.
A solution that works extremely well in one location may still need to prove that it can be implemented consistently and produce comparable value elsewhere.
That means the path from a local pilot to enterprise scale requires more than a positive result. The organization needs confidence that the solution can become operationally repeatable.
For vendors, a successful local deployment should therefore become the beginning of the scale discussion—not the conclusion of it.
How to Diagnose Pilot-to-Scale Readiness
Define What the Pilot Must Prove
A pilot should begin with agreement about the questions the provider needs answered.
Those questions may include:
- Does the technology produce the expected outcome?
- Does it fit the clinical or operational workflow?
- Will users actually adopt it?
- Can it integrate with existing systems?
- What resources are required to operate it?
- What financial value is created?
- What risks emerge during implementation?
- Can the model be replicated elsewhere?
A pilot with vague objectives may produce interesting results without producing commercially useful evidence.
Do not begin with “What should we pilot?” Begin with “What must the provider learn in order to make the next decision?”
Separate Pilot Success From Scale Readiness
A pilot may be successful while the organization remains unprepared to scale.
Pilot Success
- Technology performs as expected
- Users respond positively
- Target metrics improve
- Implementation is completed
- Local champion is satisfied
- Initial value is demonstrated
Scale Readiness
- Results can be reproduced
- Enterprise stakeholders are aligned
- Workflow works across broader settings
- Security and governance are satisfied
- Integration is repeatable
- Operational ownership is defined
- Financial case supports expansion
- Resources for broader deployment exist
The first proves the solution can work. The second determines whether the organization can make it work at scale.
Design for Repeatability, Not Heroics
Pilots often receive special attention.
The vendor may provide its best implementation team.
A motivated department leader may personally drive adoption.
Users may receive extensive hands-on support.
Integration teams may prioritize the project because it is small.
Those conditions can help a pilot succeed—but they can also hide what broader deployment will actually require.
The key question becomes:
Could this implementation model be repeated across 10 departments, 20 facilities, or an entire health system?
If success depends on extraordinary vendor effort, unusually engaged users, custom integration work, or constant executive involvement, the pilot may demonstrate value without demonstrating scalability.
A scalable solution cannot depend on pilot-level heroics every time it is implemented.
Establish the Scale Decision Before Launch
One of the most important pilot questions should be answered before the pilot starts:
What happens if this works?
The provider and vendor should understand:
- who will review the results;
- what metrics matter to those decision-makers;
- what constitutes success;
- what additional approvals are required;
- what enterprise requirements remain;
- what expansion could look like;
- and what decision is expected at the end.
Without that clarity, a successful pilot can end with another evaluation process instead of an expansion decision.
The best time to define the path beyond the pilot is before the pilot begins.
Better Discovery Questions — Don’t Ask / Ask Instead
Good pilot discovery focuses on the decision that comes after the evaluation, not simply on getting the provider to agree to test the product.
DON’T ASK
“Would you be interested in piloting the solution?”
ASK INSTEAD
“What would your organization need to learn from an evaluation before leadership could consider broader adoption?”
DON'T ASK
“What metrics should we track during the pilot?”
ASK INSTEAD
“Which outcomes will the people responsible for approving expansion need to see before they can make a decision?”
DON'T ASK
“If the pilot is successful, would you consider expanding?”
ASK INSTEAD
“If we achieve the agreed-upon outcomes, what specific decision process would follow, and who would participate in it?”
The objective is not simply to win the pilot. It is to understand what the pilot must prove for the provider to make the next buying decision.
From Pilot Success to Commercial Readiness
Before treating a successful pilot as commercial validation, the sales team should be able to demonstrate that the provider has a defined path from evaluation to broader adoption. The Buyer’s-Lens Test helps distinguish a promising local result from genuine scale readiness.
1. Questions Health IT Companies Should Be Able to Answer
☐ What specific decision is the pilot intended to support?
☐ What does the provider need to learn from the pilot?
☐ Which stakeholders helped define success?
☐ What metrics will determine whether the pilot succeeded?
☐ Are those metrics relevant to the people who approve expansion?
☐ What resources were required to make the pilot work?
☐ Can the implementation model be repeated elsewhere?
☐ Have workflow and adoption risks been evaluated?
☐ Have security and governance requirements been addressed?
☐ Who will own the solution operationally after the pilot?
☐ Is there a financial case for broader deployment?
☐ What specific decision will occur if the pilot meets its objectives?
If the sales team cannot explain what happens after a successful pilot, the opportunity may still be an evaluation—not a commercial buying process.
The Buyer’s-Lens Test
A pilot that is genuinely advancing toward scale should allow the provider to answer “yes” to each of the following:
✓ Yes, the pilot proved something important.
The results addressed questions that matter to the broader buying decision.
✓ Yes, the value can be reproduced.
The organization believes the outcome is not limited to one team or one setting.
✓ Yes, the operating model can scale.
Implementation, workflow, integration, support, and adoption can be repeated.
✓ Yes, the enterprise requirements are understood.
Security, governance, procurement, financial, and operational requirements are visible.
✓ Yes, we know what decision comes next.
There is an agreed path from pilot results to an expansion decision.
When those five answers are present, the pilot is doing more than proving the product. It is helping the provider decide whether the solution is ready to scale.
David's GTM Takeaway
Health IT companies understandably celebrate successful pilots.
They should.
But a positive pilot is not the commercial finish line.
The more important question is whether the pilot produced the evidence required for the provider to make the next decision.
If the organization has not agreed on success criteria, involved the right stakeholders, tested scalability, understood enterprise requirements, or established what happens after success, the vendor may finish the pilot with enthusiastic users but no clear path to revenue.
Design the scale decision before you design the pilot.
Through the buyer’s lens, the objective is not simply to demonstrate that the technology works.