They usually have a laser like focus on how the software looks on the screen, what the salesman says about it, and what it costs. While those issues may be important, asking the right questions about technology will tell you an awful lot about the vendor and their commitment to their product and, ultimately, their long term commitment to you as a satisfied customer.

You might ask – does what’s under the hood really matter as long as the car gets me to where I want to go? That’s a legitimate question. Now lets do a little exploring.

Programming Languages
First, technology matters for the vendor in terms of maintaining and improving their system. For example, outdated programming language may require more machine horsepower to run and they are not as adaptable, or incompatible, with new operating platforms. Finding qualified programmers for those languages can also be a challenge.

Databases
Older databases are not as efficiently designed as newer ones (like MS SQL) for data queries and reporting. It may take much longer to run reports and be more difficult to access data due to outdated technology. File formats for importing and exporting may not even be available to work with office productivity products or estimating programs used by contractors. Furthermore, error recovery in case of power failures can be more difficult with older databases.

Project Management and Document Handling
More and more contractors are looking for robust platforms for managing projects. This means that functions like document scanning, storage and lookups need to be efficient, manageable and secure. It will easier to accomplish with modern programming and databases.

Financial Reporting, Drill Down and Auditing
The ease of creating financial reports, accessing specific transactions, and related documentation is enhanced with more current technology.

Vendor Commitment
Using more up to date technology is a statement by the vendor that they are serious about keeping up with improving their products and keeping their product competitive. There are a number of vendors who do not qualify on that front and it’s pretty easy to find out who by asking the technology questions.

Here are Some Questions you May Want to aAk:

• What database are you using?
• What office productivity programs can you export to and import from?
• What industry standard report writers do you work with?
• When was the last technology improvement you made to you program?

Of course, technology is not the only thing you want to ask about and newer technology can come with its own set of issues.

But when you are being asked to pay the typical annual maintenance fee of 18 – 22% a year of the current retail value of your software, you are entitled to know whether the vendor is earning it by improving their product and protecting you from software obsolescence.