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ITSecureOps

Shortlist builder

Build a requirement checklist, not a wish list

Most buying mistakes come from evaluating features instead of requirements. Answer five questions and take away a checklist you can score any vendor against.

Which platforms must be covered?
How many devices or users?
Do you need compliance evidence?
Who will run it day to day?
What matters most commercially?

How to use the checklist

Answer the questions for the environment you have today, not the one on next year's roadmap. Each answer adds the criteria that matter for it, and three items appear whatever you choose: how you leave, who supports you, and what the contract commits you to. Those are the questions buyers most often skip and most often regret.

  1. Score before the demo. Send the checklist to each vendor and ask for written answers first. A demo shows what a product does well; a written answer shows whether it does what you need.
  2. Mark the deal-breakers. Decide which criteria rule a vendor out before you compare prices, so a low quote cannot carry a product that fails a requirement.
  3. Test the risky claims. Anything that would be costly to get wrong, such as scale, a migration or an integration, belongs in a trial with your own devices and data, not a sales call.

Then pick the category above to see the vendors in it, and our reviews and comparisons where we have them.