Six tips choosing security vendor

Choosing IT security vendor is a little bit different than choosing the ordinary IT vendor. There are a lot of consideration should be put before inviting vendor to give presentation about their project to the company. This is six basic question every company should consider before choosing the security vendor.

1. Does the vendor have a competitor? (If not, then you must pay attention to the service offered by the vendor. Competition is a very good consideration for choosing the IT security project. Don’t create a lot of dependency to single security vendor. It’s a time bomb)
2. Does your organization have IT project management staff? (If you are using multiple security vendors, then it is important to coordinate various activities. Multiple security vendor is not a good idea, especially if should working in same area. People sharing very sensitive data would tend to make a fraud)
3. Does the contract and agreement written in detail and clear. (This is standard tips, just make sure that the contract cover every single error possibility made by vendor)
4. Does your organization have access to research or analyst reports about security companies? (Without impartial, expert information, it will be difficult to determine which companies are best of breed and, more importantly, stable and reliable.)
5. Does your organization have the skills to understand and filter through the various RFPs and the claims that vendors make? (Without proper skills, it will be difficult to determine good vendors from bad vendors until after an implementation has occurred.)
6. Can your organization quickly adapt if a vendor goes out of business or is otherwise merged or acquired by another company? (Because the security field is still relatively new and emerging, constant changes in the landscape will affect how technology develops.)

 Do you others tips or advice?