Know your requirements. Know your deal breakers.

Walk into a house without knowing what you need, and suddenly that wine fridge starts looking awfully important.

Every homeowner needs a list of must-haves and can’t-haves. Technology buying works the same way. Your requirements should come from your business, not the demo script.

A polished demo can quickly turn someone else's differentiators into your requirements. The vendor shows you what it does particularly well. The room nods enthusiastically. Twenty minutes later, a capability nobody asked for has somehow become a "must-have."

Alternatively, a slick demo shouldn't make you overlook something that will become intolerable once you move in. Before you begin, agree on the conditions that would make a platform unsuitable, regardless of how impressive everything else looks.

A dealbreaker identified before the demo is a requirement.

A dealbreaker rationalized after the demo is a compromise.

The best place to start is by looking at what has already changed and what is likely to change again.

Where has your communications environment created friction in the last three years? Where are teams waiting on IT? What customer requests have been difficult to support? What regulations have forced expensive workarounds? What capabilities are you already trying to bolt onto infrastructure that was never designed to accommodate them?

Then look forward.

Requirements are moving quickly. Future Market Insights expects the global CCM market to grow at a 10.2% compound annual rate between 2025 and 2035, driven in part by growing demand for personalized engagement, omnichannel communications, cloud technology, AI, automation, and regulatory compliance.

The platform you choose has to support the customer relationships you have today, but it also needs enough room for the ones you haven't built yet. That means evaluating more than current functionality. It means understanding how easily the platform can adapt beyond today.