Evaluating Vendors
RFQ checklists, demo questions, pilot KPIs.
When to Walk Away — Red Flags in Vendor Proposals
Artificial urgency, vague SLAs, reference lists that only show successes, integration promises without technical specifics — some vendor behaviors predict deplo…
Service-Level Agreements: The Clauses That Actually Matter
Uptime guarantees, response times, software update notice periods, and data export rights — the SLA clauses that protect your operations and the standard langua…
Total Cost of Ownership vs. Sticker Price — What to Add Up
Most robotics capital requests are approved on unit price. Most robotics deployments are killed by costs that weren't in that number — integration labor, annual…
Reference Checks: The Questions Vendors Don't Want You to Ask Their Other Customers
The reference list a vendor hands you is a marketing document. This guide shows you how to find contacts the vendor didn't give you, and the specific questions …
How to Score a Vendor Demo — Beyond \"It Looks Impressive\"
Most vendor demos are optimized to impress, not to inform. This seven-test scoring framework turns a choreographed performance into a meaningful data point — an…
The 9-Question RFQ That Filters Out Vendors Who Can't Deliver
Sticker price tells you almost nothing about whether a robotics vendor can actually deliver in your environment. Nine questions that separate vendors who operat…