Singapore analytics spend splits across BI platforms, data-engineering consultancies, and managed analytics services — and the costliest mistakes happen on data quality, governance, and lock-in long before a dashboard ships. Use this checklist to separate decision-grade vendors from those selling pretty visuals.
How to evaluate a data & analytics provider in Singapore
- Confirm where data engineering ends and dashboards begin: a serious partner spends most of the project on ingestion, cleaning, modelling, and governance, so be wary of anyone leading with visual mockups in week one.
- Pin down PDPA obligations before any data moves — agree who is data intermediary vs controller, where personal data is stored and processed, and how the PDPC breach-notification and retention duties are met across the pipeline.
- Demand a governed semantic layer (Power BI semantic models, LookML, ThoughtSpot Worksheets, or dbt) so 'revenue' and 'customer' mean one thing across every dashboard — not raw tables each team redefines.
- Model a 3-year TCO across the relevant cost shape (per-user, per-capacity, or per-query) and check PSG / EDG eligibility on the IMDA Tech Depot list, since the same tool through the wrong reseller may not be grant-eligible.
- Write data export and lock-in terms into the contract up front: full export of raw data, models, and metric definitions in open formats on exit, with no proprietary holdback.
- Require a written skills-transfer plan — documentation, paired delivery, and a handover phase — so your own team can sustain and extend the analytics rather than depend on the vendor forever.
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- Confirm key details directly with the vendor — this listing isn't vendor-managed yet.
- Ask for two recent Singapore client references you can speak with.
- Ask for a written scope of services before comparing quotes.
- Request evidence of relevant certifications and their current validity.
Questions to ask
- What share of this project is data engineering versus visualisation, and what is your plan for data quality and the governed semantic layer?
- Under PDPA, are you acting as our data intermediary, and where exactly will our personal and business data be stored and processed?
- On exit, what can we export — raw data, models, and metric definitions — and in what formats, with no proprietary lock-in?
- Can you share two Singapore clients of similar size and data maturity that I can speak to about decision-grade outcomes, not just dashboards delivered?