When evaluating or renewing software vendors, what should firms be asking about data access?

One member said that at every single software vendor renewal, they now ask about the vendor's APIs -- even if they don't currently need them. The recommended questions are: what APIs do you have, what's on your roadmap, and what are you planning to allow me to do with my own data? If a salesperson doesn't know what an API is, that's telling. The member argued it's your data (client call records, tax data, etc.), and you should be able to access and pull it into other systems. The group encouraged everyone to start asking all their vendors about API availability, even if they don't yet know what to do with the answer.