AI for BusinessLesson 4
Lesson 48 min
Choosing Vendors
How to compare AI providers and tools.
What you will learn
- ✓Build vs buy
- ✓Key vendor criteria
- ✓Data residency and lock-in
Explanation
Most companies should buy or build on existing models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google) rather than train their own.
Compare on: capability for your task, price per use, integrations with your stack, data residency/privacy (where data is processed), and reliability/SLAs.
Watch for lock-in — prefer an abstraction layer so you can switch providers as prices and quality change.
Real-world use
A bank may pick a vendor offering EU data residency and enterprise contracts over a cheaper one that can't meet compliance.
Common mistakes
- • Choosing on price alone and ignoring data residency, integrations, and lock-in.
Practice
List the top three criteria you'd use to choose an AI vendor for your context.
Knowledge check
0/1 answered1. Which is a key vendor criterion beyond price?
Answer all questions to check.