How to assess a vendor/solution?

Just try and use the solution directly. See:

Value of making choices quickly in a healthy organization

It can work for some types of solutions. For really big enterprise solutions it can be difficult because it costs a lot to buy and implement these solutions and no one can see the whole picture of it.

This is true for things like SAP and Epic EMR.

You can use your personal connections - probably the best way if your personal network is good. People will say things in person in a trusted conversation which they won’t say in public. Especially if they still have an active relationship with a vendor. Don’t insult the people who can spit in your food !

@Prannay Sethion my sales team can find out more things than I do because he has larger personal professional network than I do. Glassdoor can be helpful: Is Glassdoor a good tool for looking at a company's health.

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Questions I like to ask are - do you feel like your opinions are listened to?

How does your organization handle feedback?

What do you love and hate about your work?

What you are looking for is assessing whether the organization is healthy.

Remember all the mortgage backed securities that were triple AAA rated by the rating agencies in 2008.

The incentive structure of these organizations in my opinion makes this definitely a pay to play world.

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