Choosing an AI Vendor: The Questions to Ask Before You Sign
Published by Valusage Advisory Team
AI vendor demos are designed to impress, and most of them do. The questions that actually determine whether a vendor is the right long-term choice rarely come up in the sales conversation unless you ask them directly.
Start with the problem, not the demo
Before evaluating any vendor, write down the specific problem you're solving and the outcome that would count as success — then score every vendor against that definition, rather than against how impressive their demo looked in isolation.
Data, security and exit questions
Where is your data stored and processed, who else can access it, and what happens to it if you leave the platform? These questions matter more for a UAE business than they might elsewhere, given local data-handling expectations — and a vendor that can't answer them clearly is telling you something.
Reference checks that actually tell you something
A reference call that only asks "were you happy?" won't surface real issues. Ask specifically what went wrong during implementation, how long it actually took versus what was promised, and what they'd want to know before signing again.
Where Valusage fits
Vendor evaluation is part of our Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Roadmap Development service — defining requirements, evaluation criteria and implementation considerations for a specific solution category. Procurement contracting and legal review are excluded.
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