Choosing an AI agent platform is a more significant decision than choosing a SaaS tool. Agents interact with your core systems — CRM, ERP, customer data, financial records — and make decisions that affect customers, employees, and revenue. A platform that fails, gets acquired, or proves non-compliant creates significant operational and compliance risk. Enterprise procurement processes designed for standard SaaS tools need to be augmented for agent platform decisions.
Start with data handling. What customer and employee data does the agent platform process, store, and retain? Where is it stored geographically? What encryption is applied at rest and in transit? What is the platform's subprocessor list and what access do those subprocessors have to your data? For AI-specific concerns: does the platform use your data to train models? Is there a clear contractual commitment that your data is not used for training without explicit consent? These questions should be answered in writing, not in a sales presentation.
Verify certifications rather than accepting claims. SOC 2 Type II reports should be read, not just referenced — the report scope, test period, and exceptions all matter. For healthcare use cases, a signed BAA is a minimum requirement; review what systems are in scope for HIPAA compliance. For financial services, understand what controls exist for SOX-relevant data. For EU operations, understand the platform's data transfer mechanisms and DPA terms. Ask for the current certificates and reports, not marketing summaries of them.
Enterprise SLAs for agent platforms should cover execution uptime (the ability to accept and process tasks), API availability, and — critically — execution latency SLAs for time-sensitive workflows. Review the historical status page, not just the stated SLA. What was the actual uptime over the last 12 months? How were incidents communicated? What credits are available for downtime, and are those credits a meaningful fraction of the contract value or a token gesture? Strong SLAs with real teeth indicate a vendor that has confidence in their reliability.
The most overlooked clause in agent platform contracts is the exit provision. How do you export your agent configurations, workflow definitions, and task history if you need to migrate? What is the data retention window after contract termination? Who owns the agents, prompts, and workflow logic you build on the platform — is it you or the vendor? What is the migration support commitment? These questions matter most when you are not planning to leave, which is exactly when you have the most leverage to negotiate favorable terms.
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