Software demos are built to impress. They show the best path through the product, with clean data and no exceptions. Your business is not like that. These five questions help you find out, before you sign, whether the software fits the way you actually work.
1. Which process must it support, step by step?
Write down the process as it is today: who does what, in which order, with which exceptions. Then ask the vendor to walk through your process in the product, including the awkward cases. If every second step needs a workaround or a spreadsheet next to it, the fit is poor, however good the demo looked.
2. How does it connect to what you keep?
New software rarely replaces everything. Ask:
- Does it have an API, and what can the API read and write?
- Are there ready connectors for your ERP, accounting, email or website?
- Who builds and maintains the connections, and at what cost?
A tool that cannot talk to your other systems creates a new job: someone copying data by hand.
3. Who owns your data, and can you take it out?
- Can you export all your data, in a usable format, at any time?
- Where is it stored, and does that meet your obligations (for example, personal data rules in your country)?
- What happens to it if you stop paying?
4. What does it really cost over three years?
The licence is only part of it. Add up:
| Cost | Ask |
|---|---|
| Licences | Per user, per module, per transaction? How do prices change as you grow? |
| Setup | Configuration, data migration, connections |
| Training | Who trains your team, and for how long? |
| Changes | What does it cost to adapt it when your process changes? |
| Internal time | Hours your own people spend on the project |
5. What happens when something breaks?
- Who do you call, in which language, and how fast do they answer?
- How are updates delivered, and can they break your configuration?
- Is there a named person who knows your setup?
Test on a real case
Ask for a trial on one real piece of your work: last week's orders, a real customer file. Let the people who will use it every day try it. Their reaction tells you more than any feature list.
Sometimes the honest answer is that no product fits, and a small custom system, or automation around the tools you already have, costs less. Tell us about your process and we will say which way we would go.
