A free enterprise pilot without a named deployment budget is research, and the seller is paying for it.
An innovation group or technical team may have discretionary money for experiments without an approved line item for deployment. That team can start the pilot and let it lapse without forcing a decision from the operating budget owner. The pilot can meet its technical criteria and still stall when procurement asks for a business case after the fiscal year’s money was allocated.
The question I want answered early is boring: which cost center gets charged next year, and who owns it? “We will sort that out after the pilot” is worth recording in the CRM. It means the deal still lacks a budget path. Charging for the pilot can make that path visible, but only when the money comes from the cost center expected to fund deployment. Even a small purchase tests whether that owner will spend real money on the result.
A free pilot can still earn its keep when the seller wants design partner access or a logo it can reference. That is research spending. Fund it from the research budget and report the learning separately from pipeline coverage.