How to Showcase Your Domino Applications in HCL SoFy

Do you know HCL SoFy?

SoFy (pronounced SO-fee, hclsofy.com) easily turns Domino applications into full-blown demonstration platforms.

SoFy is HCL’s platform for customers to use to test drive offerings from HCLSoftware and our Business Partners. In just minutes, users can explore full product versions in secure personal environments for self-guided demonstrations, product trials, and more.

Until recently, getting content into SoFy required skills with Kubernetes and containerization, which left more than a few folks wishing for an easier way. Now, for Domino partners, there is one.

An Easier Way

If you’re an HCLSoftware Business Partner with a Domino offering, it’s now easy to get your content into SoFy. By leveraging Domino’s One-Touch capability, new Domino applications can be added to SoFy easily, without any need for Kubernetes or containerization skills.

If you’re not familiar, One-Touch was introduced with Domino 12 and makes it easy to specify things such as Domino Organization, Server, and User names, and have them automatically created, including all necessary certifiers and IDs. Setup agents can be run, ACLs set, and applications created and configured, all using native Domino technologies.

It’s an amazing–and if we may say, clever–use of Domino’s OneTouch capability which makes it easy to get your Domino apps out into SoFy where potential customers can see them.

A Few Considerations

When SoFy deploys your application, it will have its own Kubernetes environment, running a full Domino server. That server will be certified by a brand-new Notes Organization, which means that while it’s possible for users to connect with their Notes clients, it’s much easier and more effective to have them simply connect via the web. If your application supports web browsers, that’s the way to go.

To help customers get the most from your application, provide a roadmap. Customers use SoFy for self-guided demonstrations, but it’s most effective when they do it by following provided instructions. Plan out your demo and the path you’d like them to follow. Include all the database documents they’ll need to be able to appreciate the value of your solution so they can concentrate on the important parts and not spend their time building a bunch of content just so there’s something to see.

We recommend that you record a video users can follow along with, step by step, through the entire demonstration. That way, there’s no confusion or frustration on their part about what you’re hoping they’ll see. In addition to being easy to follow along with, videos provide a great opportunity for you to point out extra features that may be hard to appreciate during the demo itself, and they also provide a useful demo for folks who want to know more but don’t want to actually do it themselves.

Saving the Best for Last

Showcasing your content on HCL SoFy costs you–wait for it–nothing. That’s right, it’s free, but certainly not without value. As a benefit of being an HCL Business Partner, promoting your offerings in SoFy is just one part of a series of perks that can result in additional exposure, sales leads, and more.

How to Get Started

Ready to see your Domino application running in HCL SoFy? Getting started requires just two steps:

1. Become an HCLSoftware Business Partner
2. Join the SoFy Partner Platform (it’s free) at https://www.hcl-software.com/sofy/partners

As soon as you’ve registered for the SoFy Partner Platform, our team will follow-up to meet with you and your team to discuss next steps.

Need more information? Contact Scott Good at scott.good@hcl-software.com.