The first conversation with a software vendor often runs the same way: the vendor shows what they can do, you nod, and at the end a quote lands on the table for you to compare with the others. They rarely are comparable, because each vendor has understood something different.
The first conversation is worth more if you ask the questions. Not to test the vendor as in a job interview, but to find out what working together would look like once it gets serious: after launch, at the first fault, when your business changes. Here are the questions that have proved useful in first conversations, and what to listen for in the answers.
Before the conversation
Settle two things before you invite anyone. First: are you looking for a finished program or for something built around your workflow? The differences are described in Custom or off-the-shelf software. Second: what exactly is getting in the way today? One sentence is enough: “Our fitters write jobs on paper, and the office types them in.” That sentence opens the conversation better than a list of requirements, because you see what the vendor makes of it.
Questions about the people
Who is my contact, and will they stay?
In many companies a different team takes over after launch, which can work well if you know who it is. Ask who takes your calls after launch, who makes the changes and whether that is the same person who got to know your business. With us, the managing director is the contact, from the first conversation into live operation.
How will you get to know my workflow?
Do they send a questionnaire, ask for a requirements specification (in German a “Lastenheft”: your own description of what the software should do), or come round and watch how an order moves through the business? A questionnaire captures what you know. Watching captures what you no longer see, because it has always been done that way. Ask, too, who does the watching: the person who will later build, or someone who passes it on. We go into the business for this, one morning per station, and write the workflow down so the staff recognise it.
Questions about ownership and access
Who owns the software, and where are the credentials?
With custom software: do you own the source code, and do you receive it? With off-the-shelf software: what of the customisation is yours, and what happens to your data if you cancel? In both situations: in whose name are the server, the domain and the service accounts? Whoever holds the credentials holds the software. In detail: Who owns your software?
What happens if you stop?
The question is awkward, and a good vendor has an answer: where is the code, where is the documentation, who besides them could maintain the software? Do not settle for “that will not happen”. Even vendors that are doing well get sold, and contacts move on.
Questions about operation and cost
What does operation look like after launch?
Who looks after updates, backups and faults? How do I report an error, and who then gets back to me? How does a change get into the system: is there a test environment, or does everything land with staff straight away? How often, and in what form, do we hear from each other? A vendor who thinks beyond launch answers this without hesitation.
How do you estimate, and how do you bill?
Ask how the vendor arrives at their estimate and what happens if it does not hold. Ask whether they bill by time or at a fixed price, what the fixed price includes and how change requests are handled. This is not about which model is better, both have their place, but about knowing in advance. How an honest estimate comes about is described in How a software estimate is made.
Questions about getting started
May I call your references?
Logos on a website are one thing, a phone call with a customer another. Ask for a business similar to yours, and for one where things got difficult. How a vendor talks about a project that did not run smoothly says more than three that did.
How small can the first step be?
Does it have to be the whole solution, or is there a first step that is useful on its own: capturing jobs on the phone, the interface to accounting, replacing one area? A vendor who can propose a small first step has understood your business. One who offers only the whole may not have found the first step yet.
Warning signs in the conversation
- The vendor presents instead of asking. By the end you know a lot about them and they know little about you.
- “Anything is possible.” Anything is possible; the question is what it costs and whether it makes sense. A vendor who never says no has not thought it through yet.
- Jargon without explanation. A vendor who mainly explains the technology in the first conversation does not yet have your workflow in view.
- A quote without having seen the business.
- Not a word about operation after launch.
- Evasion on ownership and credentials.
The questions at a glance
- Who is my contact, and will they stay?
- How will you get to know my workflow?
- Who owns the software, and where are the credentials?
- What happens if you stop?
- Who looks after operation, updates and faults after launch?
- How do you arrive at your estimate, and how do you bill?
- Which customer may I call?
- How small can the first step be?
Take the list into the conversation. A vendor who is pleased to hear these questions is usually the right one.
