Ten Questions to Ask Any Software Vendor About Your Data
Printable questions, each with the reason it matters, for your next vendor call. Ask them before you sign, not after.
Software demos are built to show you features. Nobody demos the exit. These ten questions cover the part of the relationship the sales call skips: what happens to your data while you are a customer and when you stop being one.
Print this page and keep it by the phone. Ask the questions in order, write the answers down, and notice which ones make the rep go find someone. A good vendor answers all ten without flinching. Evasion on any of them is itself an answer.
The questions
1. Can I export all of my data myself, without contacting support?
Why it matters: if getting your own records requires a ticket, your data is behind a counter and the vendor decides how long the line is. Self-service export is the baseline of ownership.
2. What exactly is included in the export, and what is not?
Why it matters: “yes, we have export” often means the main customer table and nothing else. Notes, history, custom fields, and settings are usually where the real value lives. Get the list in writing.
3. What format does the export come in, and can other software read it?
Why it matters: an open, machine-readable format like CSV means your data can move. A proprietary backup file only their system can open is lock-in wearing an export costume.
4. Do attachments and documents come out with the records they belong to?
Why it matters: photos, signed forms, and PDFs typically live outside the data export. If they come out at all, they often arrive as a loose pile with no link to the customer or job they belong to, which turns your archive into a jigsaw puzzle.
5. If I cancel, how long do I have to retrieve my data, and what do you charge for it?
Why it matters: some vendors delete quickly, and some charge exit fees for a full extract. You want a written retention window and a written price. Asking after you cancel is negotiating from the floor.
6. What happens to my data if your company is acquired or shuts down?
Why it matters: small software vendors get bought and sunset constantly. The honest answer involves contract language about data return, not reassurance about how well the company is doing.
7. Who owns the data I put into your system, and does anything in the contract license it to you?
Why it matters: the marketing site says “your data is yours.” The contract sometimes grants the vendor broad rights to use it, including for training their AI features. The contract is the one that counts.
8. Can I schedule automatic exports or backups to storage I control?
Why it matters: a one-time export is a snapshot. A scheduled copy into your own storage means you are never more than a week behind if things go wrong, and it makes every future migration an inconvenience instead of a crisis.
9. Is there an API, is it included in my plan, and is the documentation public?
Why it matters: an API is how your systems talk to each other without you re-typing things. If it costs extra or the documentation is secret, connecting your own data to your other tools is a paid privilege, and that bill arrives right when you need the connection most.
10. Can I see a sample export file before I sign?
Why it matters: this is the cheapest test in software buying. A vendor confident in their answer to questions 1 through 4 sends a file the same day. The sample either proves the story or ends it.
After the call
Score what you heard. Clear written answers to all ten: a vendor you can build on. Good answers on export but vague ones on contract terms: negotiate the data language before signing, while you still have leverage. Evasion on the basics: keep shopping, whatever the demo looked like.
The pattern behind all ten questions is one idea: the tool owns your data, you just rent it, unless you check the exit before you walk in. Go digital on your own terms.