The most disruptive person at a technology demonstration is the person who says they can already do that. No amount of dramatic lighting can prepare a presenter for a working computer somewhere else in the building.

The Guardian reports some NHS organisations see Palantir’s platform as duplicative; others report benefits. Palantir rejects criticism.

Now enter our entirely imaginary vendor demonstration. A salesperson unveils a revolutionary capability. A member of staff explains that the existing system performs it. The salesperson pauses. The existing system has clearly been permitted to exceed its remit.

The first rescue is vocabulary. The old system merely does the task. The new system enables the task. It is essential not to confuse these. One is an activity. The other has a launch event.

Our fictional demonstrator tries a second feature. Again, the customer says it already exists. This is becoming a serious compatibility issue between the presentation and the room. The laptop appears to be working. The audience is returning unsupported answers.

Perhaps the old system does not understand how old it is. This can happen when software is left in the care of people who judge it by whether it helps them finish a job. They develop a sentimental attachment to capability. They may even confuse familiarity with the ability to get on with things.

The demonstrator offers a more advanced test: can the old system generate excitement about buying the new system? At last, a gap has been identified. The customer has been operating for years without a dedicated excitement layer.

There are, of course, excellent reasons to replace software. Useful new functions, genuine improvements and systems that work together would all qualify. Our imaginary pitch is irritated by this list. Those are outcomes. The demonstration has been optimized for the moment just before anyone asks for one.

A manager suggests that the vendor might show what its product adds here, rather than what a product of this general sort could add somewhere. This is judged a distressingly local way to discuss transformation. The whole point of a universal vision is not having to share a desk with the particulars.

The next slide introduces the future. Unfortunately, someone remembers seeing the same function during the previous slide. The future has been asked to wait outside while the demonstrator checks whether it is actually the present wearing a new badge.

Nobody in this fictional room objects to progress. That would be an unhelpful misunderstanding. They object to being told that continuing to perform a task is progress only after a vendor has performed it in front of them. It is a difficult sales environment when the customer arrives with evidence of their own existence.

Finally the demonstrator identifies a decisive distinction. The old system cannot appear in this year’s announcement as a newly acquired solution. Its longstanding usefulness has made it entirely unsuitable for the ceremony.

The old system has failed its most important test: being a new purchase.