How to choose and manage software vendors

Start with what you need, not with demos

Before speaking to vendors, list the jobs the software must do, the people who will use it, the systems it must connect with, such as your accounting package or email, and any must-haves like NZ data handling, offline access or particular reports. Split the list into essentials and nice-to-haves. Without this list, demonstrations tend to impress with features you will never use while skating past the gaps that matter.

Involve the people who will use the software daily. An owner choosing a job management system alone often discovers later that it does not suit how the field team works. Two or three staff representatives at the shortlisting stage will spot practical problems that a sales demonstration is designed to hide. Ask them to score each product against the requirements list, so the decision rests on evidence rather than whoever argued loudest in the meeting.

Trial properly

Ask for a trial period and use it with real tasks. Enter a sample of real customers, jobs or transactions, run the reports you actually need and test the integrations with your existing systems. Time how long common tasks take compared with your current process. A trial that consists of clicking through the demo account tells you very little about how the product behaves with your data and your people.

Contact the vendor's support during the trial with a genuine question and note how quickly and how well they respond. Ask for the names of local businesses of a similar size that use the product, and speak to them if you can. Check what training and onboarding is included, and what it costs if not.

Read the contract for the things that bite later

Check who owns your data and how you get it out if you leave, in what format and at what cost. Look at the term, automatic renewal clauses, notice periods, price increase provisions and minimum user counts. Find out where data is stored and how the vendor protects it, whether it holds recognised security certifications, and how it will notify you if there is a breach affecting your information.

Read the support terms closely. What hours are covered, how do you raise a problem, and what response times apply for an outage versus a minor issue? If the software is critical, ask about availability commitments and what happens if they are missed. Make sure the contract matches what the salesperson said, because only the written terms count.

Set it up so the business owns it

Make sure the main admin account is held by the business, using a role-based email address rather than one person's personal or work address, and recorded in the business password manager. Use single sign-on with your Microsoft or Google accounts where the product supports it, so access is removed automatically when someone leaves. Enable multi-factor sign-in on every account.

Record the purchase in your software register: vendor, product, number of licences, cost, renewal date, notice period, admin contact and who in the business owns the relationship. Store the contract with it. This simple step prevents the common situation where nobody knows who is responsible for a system or when it is due to renew.

Managing the vendor over time

Review licence counts at least quarterly and remove those held by leavers or unused accounts. Put renewal dates in a shared calendar with a reminder well before the notice period, so you have time to renegotiate or switch. Keep a simple log of support issues and how they were resolved, which is valuable evidence when negotiating renewals or deciding whether to stay.

Once a year, ask whether the software still fits. Have needs changed, have staff created workarounds in spreadsheets, has the vendor raised prices or cut features? Watch for vendors being acquired, products being retired or support quality declining, all of which are early signals to start planning a change while you have time. Changing a core system takes months, so the earlier you notice a poor fit, the more choice you keep.

When an IT provider helps

An IT provider will not usually choose your industry software for you, but it can check integrations, security, sign-in options and data export, and help with setup, migration and user management. Bringing them in before signing can avoid buying something that clashes with your existing systems or security settings. They can also check whether the vendor supports single sign-on and multi-factor sign-in, and whether its integrations with your accounting or email platform are maintained or left to third parties.

Ask your provider to keep the software register as part of their regular reviews, flagging upcoming renewals and unused licences. That turns vendor management from an occasional scramble into a routine item on the quarterly agenda, where it belongs. Over a year or two the register also becomes a useful record of what the business pays for, which helps at budget time and when an accountant or buyer asks what software the business depends on.