20 Questions for Evaluating a Quality Management Software Partner

In highly regulated industries, today's business landscape is defined by evolving market demands and a rapid pace of technological innovation. While traditional methods for evaluating software vendors are still useful, they must be updated to address the unique challenges and opportunities that these companies face. The focus has shifted from simply finding a solution to a problem to finding a strategic partner that can help a business lay the technology foundation for its future.

20 Questions You Should Ask Quality Management Software Vendors

RFIs, RFPs, and pilots. Bake-offs, ROI/TCO calculations, demos, and feature comparison checklists. These can all be effective software evaluation tools, but not every company uses them the same way.

When making a strategic software investment, the evaluation process often varies but the objective is the same: find the best solution for your company.

We encourage customers to use various techniques to both de-risk their technology investments and expose the weaknesses of vendors who might appear strong on paper but can't match up on a real-world use case.

To establish a common ground, let's start by shifting the buyer’s mindset.

Approach software evaluations like you are interviewing a potential employee. Look at their past. Their pedigree. Get references, ideally blind. And get to know them to assess the impact they can make in the future, how their goals align to your company’s, and culture fit (open API, fast, scalable, flexible, etc).

Don't make a bad hire, as they are more costly than doing sufficient due diligence. To help your evaluation process, we offer this list of 20 questions for potential software partners.

1. How many versions of your software are you supporting? The best answer is one, as this will give you the fastest pace of innovation.
2. What countries do you have users in? The more the better as this speaks to scale and global performance.
3. What is your upgrade or release process? How often do you do it? Look for a continuous, low-disruption update cycle. Highly regulated industries like consumer goods, food & beverage, chemicals, and biopharma need a partner that can innovate and deploy new capabilities, including AI, without interrupting operations.
4. What are the ongoing costs in addition to licenses? Lower costs are better but also assess cost predictability. Understand if there are additional fees for data volume, integrations, or enhanced support. For industries where margins are often tight, cost predictability is paramount.
5. How many customers do you have, and what is their collective volume of data/content? More the better to demonstrate scale and execution. In consumer-facing industries a vendor with experience handling large datasets, particularly for things like omnichannel sales data and real-time inventory management, is essential.
6. What is the background of your leadership team? Leadership experience in software matters. The more patterns they’ve seen, the better. Consider if their experience aligns with the specific needs of your sector.
7. How many different software delivery approaches do you have? The best answer is one. A vendor with on-premise, private cloud, and multi-tenant cloud options may lack a clear focus. Look for a vendor whose business model is streamlined and optimized for a single, modern approach.
8. Where is the development team based? Communication is integral to successful software companies. Needs from customers go to product designers, which go to architects, which then get coded by developers, which are then tested by QA teams. This relay can lose fidelity if communication is not crystal clear.
9. Is your company profitable or cash flow positive? A software vendor in good financial standing has the means to invest more than those that are not.
10. What is the ownership profile of your company? Are they public, VC-backed, or private equity owned? Public is safest as nothing is hidden. Private equity is riskiest because a banker is captaining a software investment ship.
11. How quickly is your revenue growing year over year? While customer and employee growth are also good to understand, the numbers can be misleading as other variables can be at play. Revenue growth is the purest motivator for ongoing investment for a software company.
12. Does the software offer an open, public API at no additional cost? Systems are meant to talk to each other. In 2025, an open, well-documented, and public API is not just a must; it's the foundation for a scalable omnichannel strategy. If a vendor charges for the API then what else are they going to nickel and dime you on? The API is the nervous system of modern business operations.
13. How is the software modified/customized? Is it by configuration, code, or both? If both, find out what the configuration is used for and what the code is used for. The ideal solution for highly regulated industries will be highly configurable to adapt to specific business processes without requiring custom coding, which can be costly and slow to update.
14. Is the application built on an application platform or is it a point solution? Many vendors will call an application a platform. The quick test is to ask how many applications are on the same platform and don’t let a vendor call a module or add-on an application. A true platform allows for rapid innovation, such as the ability to add AI-driven demand forecasting or predictive analytics without a full system overhaul.
15. What customer use metrics does the vendor track? Performance should definitely be one. In consumer-facing industries, the ability to track metrics like speed-to-shelf, digital shelf optimization, and consumer engagement data is crucial for making data-driven decisions.
16. Is the licensing perpetual, named, or concurrent? Is it based on data volume, logins per time period, or something else? Perpetual is usually for on-premise software. Some vendors offer concurrent licenses, and watch out for those. If you exceed your concurrent licenses due to an event, you may be looking at large “roaming” or overage charges, or worse, your users can’t get in. For companies with seasonal demand spikes, flexible, usage-based licensing models can be more economical.
17. Where is the software hosted? The best are AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, NTT data centers, etc. A robust cloud infrastructure is non-negotiable, supporting real-time data analysis and ensuring a resilient supply chain.
18. Does the vendor provide transparency into the status of the service? How will you know if the system is up, down, or sideways? Pure cloud vendors will often provide a public site that details the status of the service and will report on any disruptions to the service.
19. Does the vendor have a robust partner ecosystem? System integrators and other third parties can play a significant role in the tuning of a SaaS solution. Don’t be trapped and sole-sourced by your vendor. Make sure that there is an ecosystem of partners who can help you to configure and fold the service into your business environment. A strong ecosystem allows for integration with specialized marketing tools, logistics platforms, and retail media networks.
20. What is the vendor’s customer renewal rate? In the world of SaaS, customer renewal rates are a proxy for customer satisfaction. If a customer is unhappy with a service, then they won’t renew their subscription with a vendor. Also, if a vendor is lucky enough to have “negative churn,” then they are expanding their footprint within accounts, as opposed to shrinking or not renewing. Negative churn is the best indicator for both customer satisfaction and adoption.

Armed with these 20 questions, any software buyer can select the best software vendor for their company's needs.

A Strategic Partner for Your Company’s Digital Future

For companies in highly regulated industries like consumer goods, food & beverage, chemicals, and biopharma, a software vendor is no longer just a service provider; they are a critical extension of your business strategy. Selecting the right technology partner, especially one that understands the specific demands of your industry, is a key driver of growth and competitive advantage. 

By focusing on a vendor’s ability to support data-driven decision-making, facilitate a seamless omnichannel experience, and enable operational agility, you can ensure your investment not only solves today's problems but also positions your brand for a successful and innovative future.