Before You Sign Security Software, Read the Exit Terms

When an owner looks at new software, the conversation is almost all about the way in. What does it do, how long to set up, what does it cost this month. The way out hardly comes up. I think that is backwards, and it is where owners get caught.

A system holds your sites, your staff records, your rota history and your licence dates. After a year it holds more about your business than any single person in it. That makes it the most expensive thing in your company to leave, whatever the monthly price says. So the exit terms deserve the same attention as the feature list.

Ask who owns the data, in plain words

Your data is yours. Say that out loud to the vendor and see how they react. A confident answer is "yes, and here is how you get it". A nervous one is "well, it depends what you mean by data".

Ask for specifics:

• Can I export my staff, sites, shifts and timesheets myself, without raising a ticket?
• What format does it come out in? A spreadsheet you can open is useful. A file only their system can read is not.
• Does the export include history, or only what is live today?
• If I leave, how long do you keep my data, and when is it deleted?

Do not accept "we can sort that out when the time comes". When the time comes you are the one with a problem and they are the one with leverage.

Notice periods and minimum terms

Read the term length before anything else. Twelve months can be perfectly reasonable. Twenty-four or thirty-six months on a system you have not run live yet is a big bet on a demo.

Then find the renewal clause. Some contracts roll over automatically for another full term unless you give notice in a narrow window, sometimes months before the end. Put that date in your diary the day you sign, or better, ask for it to be removed. If you miss it, the first you hear of it is an invoice.

Ask what happens if you cut staff numbers. A fair deal moves with the size of your business. A bad one charges you for the headcount you had at signing.

Price rises

Ask how the price can change during the term and after it. Is it fixed for the contract? Is there an annual uplift, and is it capped or "at our discretion"? Is the staff number in the price a hard limit, and what does the next step up cost?

You do the same with your own clients. You know that a contract with no price review clause is a contract you will regret in a bad year. Apply the same eye to your suppliers.

Also look for what sits outside the headline price. Add-ons, extra users, set-up fees, training days, support tiers. The number on the website is rarely the number on the invoice unless someone has made it so. If the pricing is not published, you are negotiating without knowing what other people pay, and that tells you something about the vendor's priorities.

Support is part of the contract

You will not need support on a good day. You will need it at six in the morning when a rota has not published and officers are standing outside a site. So ask now: who answers, how, and how fast? Is it a person or a queue? Is the answer time written down anywhere, or is it a nice thing the salesperson said?

Ask for a reference, ideally someone your size who has been on the system more than a year. Ask them what happened the last time something broke. That answer is worth more than the demo.

Try it before you are tied to it

The cleanest protection is a deal where leaving is easy, because then the vendor has to keep earning your business. A free tier or trial with your own sites and staff, no card tied up in a long term, tells you more in a fortnight than a month of meetings.

At TacDesk there is no setup fee and no contract, and the prices are on the pricing page for anyone to read. I did that on purpose. If you are going to stay, I want it to be because the product is useful to you, not because leaving is a hassle. Whoever you choose, hold them to the same standard.

A short checklist before you sign

Keep these on one page and get an answer to each in writing:

• Can I export all my data myself, in a format I can use?
• What is the minimum term, and when does it renew?
• How much notice do I need to give, and how?
• How can the price change, and by how much?
• What is not included in the price I have been quoted?
• Who do I contact when something breaks, and what response time is promised?

If a vendor will not answer these in writing, that is your answer. A supplier you can leave is a supplier who behaves.

If you are comparing systems at the moment, I have put together an honest look at one of the common ones in our TacDesk vs GuardTek comparison, and the practical side of moving across is in Switching Security Software Without Losing a Week of Sleep.

If you would like to see how TacDesk would work for your sites and your team, book a demo and I will show you.