Getting to the Shortlist: Tips and Tricks for Vetting Vendors

Need a capability you don't have today? You're in good company. From March 30 to Sept. 29, 54% of the security vendor-selection requests IANS handled started with a capability gap, and AI adoption drove 29%.

AJ King and Dave Shackleford, both IANS Faculty, show you how to turn that need into a defensible shortlist without burning cycles on vendors that don't fit. They cover the pre-work, RFP, proof of concept (PoC), and customer reference steps that separate opinion from evidence. You'll learn how to:

• Define the gap, budget, owner, and must-have requirements before you talk to a vendor
• Run an RFP and PoC with standardized scoring and realistic lab conditions
• Separate "AI-powered" from "AI security," and test AI claims instead of taking them at face value
• Pick, back-channel, and score customer references to hear what a vendor-curated list won't tell you