Software Vendor Assessment

Questions for internal team

  • Do we have a competing product that already provides the same function as the vendor product being assessed?
  • What is the cost of doing the project?
  • What is the cost of not doing the project?
  • How does this product help us meet our business objectives?

Questions for software vendors

  • How much does it cost and what is the pricing model?
  • What is a typical implementation timeline?
  • What is expected of the internal team to implement this product?
  • What questions have other people answered or problems have been solved using your software?
  • What is the typical use case for your software?
  • What is the uptime SLA for the product and what happens if the SLA is not met?
  • What is the support SLA for tickets?
  • How is this implemented with our product? Can we see the code or SDK?
  • Do you have automated testing? What does code coverage look like?
  • Who is your largest client and how long have they been a client?
  • What is your security policy?
  • How are releases and upgrades handled?
  • What is your data retention policy?
  • Can you provide us with references?
  • When people quit using your product, what reasons do they give for leaving?
  • What training resources are available?
  • How many concurrent users can your system support?
  • Describe your security practices and policies.
  • Describe your accessibility testing practices and policies.
  • How financially stable are you?
  • How many clients do you have and what is the median length of time they have been clients?