Before you buy it, try leaving it.

Use the trial to test departure

Once the tool holds live data and habits, the cost of leaving stops being a technical question. During a trial you can ask uncomfortable things and the vendor still wants the deal.

So use the trial to test departure, not just arrival. The result gives you something concrete to discuss before signing.

Ask for the export you would actually need

Request a full export of a populated workspace, then try to use it somewhere else. Check whether relationships between records survive, whether attachments come with it, whether history and audit trail are included, and what happens to anything the product generated for you.

An export button in the settings page says nothing about fidelity. A CSV of headline fields with the linkages stripped is technically an export and practically a rebuild.

Write the answers into the agreement

Note the export format, the notice period, how long data is retained after cancellation, and who pays for assistance if you leave mid-term. Ask what happens to integrations and to any single sign-on configuration that depends on the vendor.

None of this needs to be adversarial. Record any unanswered questions as part of the evaluation.

Keep the finding for the renewal conversation

Store the export sample and your notes with the contract. At renewal, the question is no longer whether the tool is liked but what switching would genuinely cost — and you will have measured it once already.

Try a small reconstruction

Use synthetic trial data to create a few linked records with attachments, comments and different owners. Export them, then ask a colleague to reconstruct a simple task from the files without opening the original service. Can they connect an attachment to its record and tell which status was current?

An export that preserves the information may still need substantial transformation before another product can use it. Record those manual steps and any tooling required. Your test is measuring the work of departure, rather than demanding that unrelated products have identical data models.

Bring unresolved questions to the decision

Keep a table of the information you need, the export result, the missing detail and the person who will resolve it. Include volumes and any vendor assistance that the test relied on. Repeat the exercise after a material product change or before a consequential renewal.

Have the people responsible for procurement and contractual review confirm the agreed terms. Technical testing does not establish a contractual entitlement or prove how deletion will be handled. Preserve the written vendor answers alongside the test evidence so that both can inform the purchase.