An AI demo can show you what is possible. Before you buy, you also need to know what it will cost in normal use, what happens to your information and how much work your team will still need to do.
These five questions give you a structure for that conversation. Send them ahead if the supplier needs to bring someone who handles security or contracts. Keep the answers in writing so you can compare suppliers and check the final agreement.
1. What happens to our data?
Ask the supplier to follow a sample document through the service: upload, processing, storage and deletion. The company hosting the application may use other providers to process it.
Find out:
- Where your files, prompts and responses are stored and processed, including backups and logs.
- Which other companies receive them, and where to find the sub-processor list.
- Whether any provider can use them for model training, and which settings or contract terms govern that.
- Who can access them for support, how access is authorised and how it is recorded.
- How long each type of data is kept and what deletion involves.
Ask for the relevant contract terms as well as an explanation. Pass them to whoever handles data protection in your business before sharing personal information. The ICO's AI and data protection guidance is a useful starting reference for that review.
2. What would a normal month cost us?
Give the supplier a realistic workload: the number of people using the tool, the tasks they will run and roughly how often. Ask for an estimate for both a typical month and a busy one.
Check what the subscription includes, what uses up any allowance, and what happens when you reach a limit. Include setup, integrations, support, training and any minimum contract term. If spending can increase automatically, ask who controls the cap and who receives alerts.
A fixed price can be convenient. Usage pricing can suit variable work. Either way, you need enough information to budget and compare the total with the value of the work completed.
3. Can we leave with the information we need?
Ask to see a sample export. Check which records it includes, which formats it uses and whether attachments, conversation history and saved instructions come with it.
A useful exit plan should also explain:
- The notice period and any export or cancellation fees.
- How long you have to retrieve data after cancelling.
- How to revoke access to connected systems.
- What gets deleted, when, and what is retained in backups or for other stated reasons.
An export is only useful if you can open it and make sense of it. Try that during the trial, while help is available.
4. How do we review and stop its actions?
Choose an example with consequences, such as sending a customer message or changing a record. Ask the supplier to show the permissions, approval step and activity log for that example.
Check whether a reviewer sees enough detail to make a decision: the recipient, the proposed change and the source information. Then ask what happens if the action fails halfway through, is repeated, or turns out to be wrong.
Some actions can be reversed; others need a correction or a follow-up. Know the difference before enabling them, and make sure someone on your team can pause the process or remove access.
5. What would make this a poor fit?
Ask where the tool struggles and what setup effort customers tend to underestimate. A supplier may not be able to name a customer whose trial failed, but they should be able to explain limitations and give anonymised examples where available.
Agree a trial using your own representative tasks, including exceptions. Decide how you'll measure success: time saved after review, accuracy, cost and whether the team can use it without constant help.
A polished demo is a useful introduction. Your trial should give you enough evidence to decide whether the tool belongs in your working week.
Keep track of unanswered questions
After the call, record each answer, the supporting document or demonstration, and anything still open. Give unresolved questions an owner and a date for follow-up.
Pause the purchase if an essential requirement remains unclear. You don't need an instant answer to every question, but you do need the important ones settled before you commit.