Start With Requirements, Not Vendors
Document: team size, process complexity, integrations, industry specifics, AI ambitions. Without this, demos drive you.
Shortlist From Requirements
3–5 vendors max. Salesforce, HubSpot, D365, Zoho, Freshworks for most orgs. ServiceNow for ITSM. Industry clouds for verticals.
Pilot Before Committing
30-day pilot on real data, real processes, real users. Sales promises vs pilot reality often differ.
Total Cost Modeling
3-year TCO: licenses, implementation partner, integrations, training, ongoing admin. Sticker price is the beginning, not the end.
Red Flags
‘Future roadmap’ features you need now. Locked-in long contracts without pilots. Resistant-to-reference sellers. Demos that skip your real data.