10 Strategies to Choose the Right Tech Vendor for Your Business • Slash

A tech vendor helps entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses to meet their technology requirements. But the problem begins when one can’t find a loyal tech partner. So if you are also struggling to find a dependable, dedicated tech services provider, this post will show you 10 strategies to select the right company.

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A reliable tech vendor can emancipate tons of burden off your shoulders. They can be useful to businesses – from developing complex solutions to updating back-end programming. But this is only possible when you opt for the right service provider. So follow these 10 approaches to find a reliable tech vendors to help you achieve goals through their services.

1. Research Tech Vendors Within and Outside Networks

The ideal way to begin researching tech vendors is by getting input from your own staff and internal networks. There might be a possibility that someone from your company may know other organizations who are already working with outsourced tech teams.

Doing so will help you in two ways. First, you may get a good list of tech vendors serving several companies. Second, you can inquire about their performance and make rational decisions. This practice will help you know two important pieces of information:

The capability of a tech vendor to overcome challenges
Technologies being utilized by tech vendors to solve problems

However, if you’re opting for this strategy, make sure you prioritize feedback from concerned departments only. If there are no internal leads, try finding tech vendors through other means. You can always look for a suitable tech vendor through market research, using platforms as simple as Google search.

2. Evaluate the Genuine Problem-Solver

“All that glitters is not gold.”

– William Shakespeare

This is the perfect aphorism that fits this strategy. You need to understand that the after-sales service is one of the most important things to seek in a tech vendor. What happens is that most organizations usually believe what the vendor’s sales team shows them. Later, they discover that the tech team is incapable of providing solutions.

To save yourself from such disappointments and time wastage, meet the real person responsible for providing technical solutions to your business. They could be a team leader, an authorized person, or an entity who must ensure you their focus and availability.

Don’t just fall for what the salespeople say. Meet the actual problem solvers before signing any contract. In fact, make this condition one of the requirements for a successful deal.

3. Determine the Real Cost of the Tech Vendor

When hiring a tech vendor, try to make them as transparent as possible with the cost. Many technology providers offer affordable pricing. However, when you finally take their services, they start charging heavily for configuration, implementation, and training.

Sometimes the features that let you opt for a specific tech vendor are only available as an “add-on” service. That means you need to pay an extra amount to get those services. Therefore, discussing hidden charges or premium services is suggested before going into a contract.

4. Ask the Tech Vendor for a Trial

Before signing any agreement with the tech vendor, always ask for a trial of their services. It will help you get rid of their services if the provider doesn’t meet your expectations. It is also observed that many companies offer technical assistance with an integration fee, which is usually a new cost.

In reality, these are just psychological tactics to make a few more thousand bucks out of your business account. Nevertheless, you can waive such service charges through negotiation.

5. Ensure Security Certifications

Since you are looking for a tech vendor, it is quite clear that you lack the technical staff to check the system. And by “system,” we mean the software programs that will be used to run your business operations.

Therefore, you will either choose a tech squad to manage the technical aspects of your business or a SaaS solution. And once you’re confident that the tech vendor has the right tech stack to meet your requirements, ask them to confirm security. This verification is extremely important. A trusted tech vendors will not hesitate to show certifications, such as ISO 27001, SOC Type 1 and Type 2.

Also Read: 5 SaaS Application Development Practices for Building High-End Solutions

6. Choose the Key Functionalities You Need

Tech vendors offer a wide range of services. They may offer to provide software with excellent features. But the question is, “do you really need them for your business?” Because each service may have a different cost. So make sure to choose technology that is genuinely required by your business.

To do that, make a list of requirements and connect them with your business objectives. Next, eliminate tools, functionalities, or features which are unnecessary for your company.

7. Check the Tech Vendor’s Track Record

You must determine whether the tech vendor is authentic and promising before making any decision. While it seems challenging, you can get insights by unearthing the vendor’s past and current customers’ feedback.

Try to get answers to the following questions to learn more about the tech vendor.

Did the provider’s offered products solve the problems of its customers?
Is the customer service of the tech vendor worthy of praise?
How has the vendor treated previous customers?

Of course, we won’t tell you to expect 100% positive feedback for the above questions. But at least the tech vendor must acquire 90% answers in its favor.

8. Get Your Staff to Test the Solution

Let your staff be hands-on with the solutions implemented by the tech vendor. This will help you analyze if the system is adaptable by everyone on your team. Do not assume that your staff will easily use the services just because you can handle the functionalities. Also, try to work on this strategy during the trial period so you can request modifications or better solutions from the tech provider.

9. Ease of Integration

If you are a small business or startup, then having a solution that caters to all your business needs will be expensive. So, to fill the gap, you will need to choose different software for specific tasks. But this can be a headache if the solutions are difficult to be integrated with other programs. So, choose a tech vendor who understands this problem and provides you with services which are combinable with all popular software.

10. Hire Top Talent

Ensure your tech vendor offers a top-notch team of talented programmers to operate business functions. Remember, experienced and highly-skilled engineers will help you grow your business by providing supreme technical assistance.

Also Read: How to Find a Reliable Tech Partner for Your Startup | 5 Keys to Follow

Conclusion

A tech vendor allows you to add a tech stack without investing in expensive IT structures. But choosing the wrong provider can lead to huge business losses. Therefore, you must thoroughly research and pick a company with satisfied customers. You should always meet the team responsible for providing tech solutions before making any deal. Lastly, ensure the tech vendor provides you with the best talent to solve your problems.

At Slash, we strive to bring forth competent technical services to all our clients. Our blazing tech squad has years of experience providing meaningful tech solutions according to your requirements. Contact us for tech partnerships so that together we grow your business boundaries.