Half fail in year one.
Half of vendor relationships fail in the first year, but not because of missing features. After analyzing 200+ vendor evaluations, the failure pattern is almost always one of three things: an opaque SLA, a tiny bus factor on the vendor side, or unclear ownership of the integration on yours. Features rarely make the post-mortem.
A seven-dimension scorecard.
TBL · 01 · VENDOR DILIGENCE SCORECARD · DEFAULT WEIGHTSN = 200+ EVALUATIONS
| Dimension | Weight | Operational Tell |
|---|---|---|
| SLA clarity (uptime, MTTR, exclusions) | 20% | Read the SLA exclusions; that's the real SLA |
| Bus factor (engineers on the product) | 15% | Names + tenure; not 'team size' |
| Owner on your side | 15% | If unowned, no vendor will save you |
| Integration cost (real, in your env) | 15% | Day-2 cost, not just initial install |
| Roadmap transparency | 10% | Public roadmap or under NDA? |
| Exit cost | 15% | Data export format + lead time |
| Pricing predictability | 10% | Step changes, overage triggers, renewal floors |
What good looks like.
Vendors with clear SLA exclusions23%↓
of vendor SLAs explicitly enumerated exclusions in plain language. The remaining 77% hid them in legalese.
Bus factor median≤ 8 eng
engineers actively shipping on the product. Below 4 is a major risk; above 30 is a different kind of risk (priorities shift).
Renewal-floor surprises+47%↑
of renewals included a price floor or step change that wasn't in the original contract.
What separates smart procurement.
✓DO
- Read the SLA exclusions before the SLA promises
- Get bus-factor numbers in writing
- Name an internal owner before you sign
- Test the data-export path during the pilot
- Score against weighted dimensions, not vibes
✗DON'T
- Rely on demo polish as a proxy for engineering depth
- Sign without a named internal owner
- Skip the exit-cost question because 'we're committed'
- Accept verbal SLA commitments over written ones
- Renew without checking renewal-floor language
Before you sign the contract.
▸ VENDOR · CHECKLIST0/7 COMPLETE
- SLA exclusions read and understood
- Bus-factor number documented
- Internal owner assigned
- Day-2 integration cost estimated
- Roadmap transparency confirmed
- Exit cost (data + time) documented
- Pricing predictability for renewal verified