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Reference data: a buyer's guide

What we list in this category, where each entry came from, and the questions worth pressing on before you commit.

63
products
41
vendors
57
from the supplier's own page
0
with a founding year

Every entry below was recorded from a page we opened, and each carries the source we read. Where we could not establish something it is left blank rather than guessed. Read how this site works if you want the detail.

What we list

Every product we hold in this category, in one list. A supplier that has run in production for twenty years and one that launched last year appear together and carry the same fields, because that is the comparison a buyer has to make. Each entry's founding year and owner are on its company page where the company states them, and both bear on continuity: long service is evidence a supplier will still be there, and a young supplier may offer capability and pricing the incumbents do not while carrying fewer references at your size.

What to ask

These come from the same question bank our request-for-proposal process uses, so a guide and an RFP never drift apart. The four sections below carry the most weight in that bank.

Functional fit

Whether the system does the job for YOUR instruments, markets and volumes — not for the demonstration portfolio. The questions separate what runs in production today from what is on the roadmap, because that distinction disappears in a sales meeting and reappears during implementation. It also asks what still has to be typed in by hand, which every system has and few volunteer.

Security and resilience

Whether the vendor's security is independently attested or merely asserted. The questions ask for certifications you can read, penetration tests you can see the summary of, and recovery objectives that are written down. Incident history is asked directly, because a vendor that has handled a breach well is often a safer choice than one that has never been tested.

Compliance and regulatory

Whether the system stands up to your regulator and your auditor. Covers the reporting regimes the product supports directly, whether it can evidence who saw or changed a record, how long records are retained, and where in the world your data physically sits — which is a hard constraint for many firms rather than a preference.

Clients and references

Whether they have done this for a firm like yours, and whether those firms stayed. Vendors present client counts and logos readily; they present ATTRITION reluctantly, which is why this section asks for clients lost and migrations completed as separate questions from clients won. Size fit decides more failed implementations than feature lists do, so it is asked directly.

You can send all 167 of these questions to the vendors you choose, and get every answer back side by side. Run an RFP — it is free to you and free to them.

See all 63 products in Reference data · Glossary