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Chapter 9: 23 Burning Questions for Vendors Under Consideration

1. Have you done this before? Who and where?
2. Do you poll my currently installed remotes, or do I have to do a wholesale swapout?
3. What protocols do you support?
4. Do you have references or testimonials or am I your first customer?
5. Do you support transport diversity (RS-232, RS-422, LAN, 202) or will I have to reinvest and purchase a new transport layer?
6. Can you port my database from my existing master or will I have to manually re-enter the data?
7. Is this solution affordable, or will it cost me a ton of money?
8. Will you support me during the transition or am I on my own once you are paid?
9. If surprises crop up - do you have the ability to reengineer the solution to make sure I am up and running?
10. Does your remote support dual interfaces / protocols for both my new sites as well as my legacy sites?
11. Do you offer installation and training or does my staff have to figure it out from the manual (if they even read it)?
12. Do you have the ability to custom engineer a perfect fit solution or is your sales staff just a bunch of order takers?
13. After you design the perfect system - do you have materials and tools that I need to successfully present this to upper management?
14. As my network grows - is there a clear upgrade process for my equipment?
15. Are you able to customize my master to support my "special" needs - or do I have to hire a full time programmer?
16. Do you have a master, or are you simply selling remotes?
17. Do you have remotes, or are you simply selling master stations?
18. What type of remote and network debugging and visibility do you have built-in to your products to aid me in troubleshooting communication problems?
19. If I have a problem at 4:00 A.M., can I get emergency tech support?
20. When I have an issue, will I get an automated call system or will I get a real voice?
21. Are you a vertically integrated supplier - or are you part of five-team consortium?
22. Will you fly someone out here, do a site survey to review my alarms, transport, and general needs, help me design a perfect fit solution, field trial it with me, and support me after installation?
23. Does your solution fit with my manpower and resource availability?

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