Start with your operating profile
Manufacturers care about outbound ACK health and L3 handoff. Wholesalers care about receive-to-ship throughput and supplier exception rates. Pharmacies care about VRS at dispense and PMS adjacency. One vendor rarely optimizes all three equally.
Document inbound transport mix (AS2, SFTP, HTTPS), average partners per month, and whether you need scan-first vs file-first receiving before you sit through generic demos.
Non-negotiable capability checks
Ask for live EPCIS 2.0 investigation—not slide decks. Request exception workflows with supplier accountability, not just ingest logs. Confirm VRS audit trails for dispensers. Validate that pricing includes the partner count you will actually onboard in year one.
Network vs direct connectivity
Exchange networks reduce onboarding friction at enterprise scale but add per-partner economics. Direct AS2/SFTP presets suit mid-market operators who want control and predictable TCO. Neither is universally better—match to your IT capacity and partner mix.