Choosing a software vendor requires considering several important factors: 1) Local presence is beneficial for site visits and building relationships, but the quality of support is most important. 2) Carefully review the support contract to understand what is covered, such as free upgrades, implementation costs, and whether support hours align with business needs. 3) For hosted services, understand data center locations and security, as well as support hours of operation and service level agreements. Overseas hosting can impact speeds and introduce additional support costs.

1. Choosing a software vendor
Here in the UAE there are lotsof opportunitiestochoose softwarevendorsfrommanylocations. There
are a large numberof overseassoftware vendorswithasmall local presence. Soas a business,howdoI
make sure that I choose the correct vendor?
 Local Presence. A local presence isdefinitelyabenefit. Itisalwaysnice forme to be able to do
site visitsandmake sure that the customerishappy. Thisbuildsa betterrelationshipwithmy
customers,andalsogivesme the opportunitytooffermore ordifferentservices. However,a
goodlocal presence isonlya benefitwhenthe supportyoureceiveisgood.
 Support. What is the companiessupportlike? Make sure that the supportcontract is
scrutinized. Will yoube receivingfree upgrades? Will those upgradesrequire paidworkto
implement? Dothe supporthourof operationsuityourbusinessrequirement? Whatare the
supportSLA’s,and dotheyfitintoyour requirementsasa business.
 Hosted Services. If yourvendorisofferingyouhostedservices,suchasSoftware AsA Service
(SAAS),thenyouwill needtofindoutabouttheirdata centers. Will the software be hostedina
local data centre,or will itbe hostedthousandsof milesaway. Thiswillhave aneffecton the
speedof the software. Howwill yourdatabe secured(especiallyif itiscrossinginternational
boundaries)? Software vendorsthathostoverseashave anaddedissue of supporthours. They
may claimthat theycan supportyouduringworkinghours,howeverwill thisincludelocal
supportinthe countrythat the data centre resides? The vendormaybe chargedinternallyfor
out of hours supportforthistime,andthe cost of thiswill,inevitably,be passedontoyou as a
customer. However,mostimportantly,youmustfindoutwhatthe SLA’sare like inthe hoursof
operationof the data center.
 Personnel. Whenchoosingavendor,itisimportantthat youlike the people thatyouwill be
doingbusinesswith. Havinganice relationshipwithkeypeople will meanthatyougetbetter
service. Thiscouldbe difficultinsucha transientplace,however,one waytofindoutabout
personnel istorequestprofessional CV’s. Thiswill ensure thatthe personnelare skilled,
experienced,andfullyqualifiedtoachieve whatyouwantto.