Choosing a survey platform for the long term: what vendor acquisitions mean for research teams

Choosing a survey platform is an important decision for any market research agency, research department or organization that relies on data collection to make informed decisions.

At first, the evaluation may seem straightforward. You compare features, pricing, questionnaire capabilities, reporting tools and integrations. You run a demonstration, test the interface and assess whether the software meets your technical requirements.

But there is another question that deserves just as much attention:

Is your survey software provider the right long-term technology partner for your business?

Survey platforms are deeply embedded in research operations. They support questionnaire programming, online surveys, telephone interviews, face-to-face data collection, fieldwork management, reporting and integrations with other systems. Over time, teams build workflows, develop technical expertise and establish processes around the software they use.

As a result, changing platforms can be considerably more complex than switching to another business application.

Meanwhile, the market research technology landscape continues to evolve. Mergers, acquisitions and changes in ownership can reshape the relationships between software vendors, research organizations and their customers.

Recent developments involving Forsta, Qualtrics, Askia and Ipsos have brought these questions into focus for research professionals.

An acquisition does not automatically mean that a product will deteriorate or that customers should consider leaving. It does, however, provide a good reason to review the relationship with your current provider and understand what matters most for the future.

In this article, we explore seven factors to consider when choosing a survey platform for the long term, beyond features and price.

Ownership and vendor Independence: what happens when a survey software company is acquired?

Vendor ownership is not always a priority during the initial software selection process. However, it can become an important consideration when a technology provider joins a larger organization.

Two recent developments in the market research industry illustrate why this subject deserves attention.

The Qualtrics and Forsta acquisition

On October 6, 2025, Qualtrics announced an agreement to acquire Press Ganey Forsta for $6.75 billion. The acquisition was completed on May 18, 2026, according to Qualtrics’ official announcement.

The combined organization brings together Qualtrics’ experience management technology and Press Ganey Forsta’s expertise in healthcare experience measurement, data and analytics.

For existing Forsta customers, a major ownership change naturally raises questions about the future direction of their technology, potential integration plans and long-term product investment.

In a May 2026 analysis, Forrester discussed the strategic implications of the completed transaction and highlighted that the future integration of the different platforms remained an important question.

This does not establish that Forsta Plus will be discontinued or that existing customers will necessarily need to migrate. It does demonstrate why customers should seek clarity about their particular product and its future.

The Ipsos and Askia acquisition

A similar discussion began several years earlier when Ipsos announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Askia on February 10, 2020.

According to Ipsos’ announcement, the transaction was intended to combine Askia’s survey technology expertise with Ipsos’ research capabilities and support the development of its digital research solutions.

The announcement also stated that Askia’s existing leadership would continue managing the business.

As with any acquisition, the strategic rationale may be positive for the companies involved. Nevertheless, customers may reasonably want to understand how the relationship between a technology provider and a larger market research group affects their own needs.

For organizations evaluating survey software, the relevant question is not whether acquisitions are inherently good or bad.

It is whether the provider’s ownership structure, strategic priorities and commitments remain aligned with the customer’s interests.

Questions to ask about vendor independence

Before choosing a survey platform, consider asking:

• Who owns the software company and what are its principal business activities?
• Does the provider also compete in the market research services business?
• How does the company manage customer confidentiality and potential conflicts of interest?
• How are product development priorities established?
• What commitments exist regarding the continuity of the product?
• How will customers be informed about significant changes in ownership or strategy?

An independent provider may offer a different relationship and decision-making structure from a large technology group. However, independence alone does not guarantee better service, stronger security or faster innovation.

The important thing is to understand the provider’s model and assess whether it fits your organization.

Technical support: who will actually help you?

A survey platform may offer every feature you need, but its value can quickly diminish if you cannot get effective technical assistance when something goes wrong.

This is particularly important for research agencies and organizations running complex or time-sensitive projects.

A questionnaire may involve advanced routing, quotas, sample management, external integrations or multiple data collection modes. If an issue arises during fieldwork, delays can affect interviewers, respondents, project deadlines and ultimately the quality of the research.

Technical support should therefore be evaluated as a core part of the product, not as an optional extra.

Look beyond promised response times

When comparing survey software vendors, consider the entire support process.

• Technical expertise: Can the support team understand complex questionnaire logic, programming requirements and data collection workflows?
• Accessibility: Can you communicate directly with knowledgeable specialists, or must requests pass through multiple levels of account management?
• Escalation procedures: What happens when a problem requires intervention from the development team?
• Service commitments: Are response times, support availability and escalation procedures clearly documented?
• Continuity: Will you have access to people who understand your specific setup and its history?

A fast initial response is not necessarily a good resolution. Equally, a technically sophisticated support team is less useful if reaching it is difficult.

The objective is to understand how effectively a vendor can help your team maintain its operations.

Why the development model matters

Some providers separate software development, customer support and commercial operations across different teams or locations. Others offer a more direct relationship between customers and the people responsible for building the platform.

Neither model is automatically superior, but the differences can matter when dealing with complex technical requirements.

When evaluating a survey platform, ask how customer feedback reaches the development team, how technical issues influence product improvements and how urgent problems are prioritized.

The answers will tell you much more about the support experience than a generic promise of excellent customer service.

Product roadmap: is your survey platform built for the future?

Survey software must evolve alongside research methodologies, respondent expectations, technology standards and customer requirements.

A platform that meets your needs today may not be sufficient several years from now if its development priorities no longer match your business.

Ownership changes can make this consideration particularly relevant, but roadmap transparency is important regardless of who owns the vendor.

Evaluate the roadmap, not just the current feature list

During a software evaluation, it is easy to focus on what a platform can do at the moment.

However, research organizations should also understand how the product is expected to develop.

Consider questions such as:

• How frequently are meaningful product improvements released?
• How does the vendor prioritize customer requests?
• Are major product changes communicated clearly?
• What is the approach to maintaining existing functionality?
• How are compatibility, security and performance improvements handled?
• Can the provider explain its investment priorities without making unrealistic promises?

A roadmap does not need to guarantee every requested feature or publish every internal development decision. It should, however, provide sufficient clarity for customers to make informed decisions.

Consider the future of your workflows

Your assessment should reflect the way your organization actually works.

For example, an agency conducting CATI, CAWI and CAPI research may need continued support for multiple data collection modes, sophisticated questionnaire logic and coordinated fieldwork.

Another organization may depend heavily on integrations, reporting workflows or specialized data processing.

Identify the capabilities that are essential to your operations and discuss how the vendor intends to maintain and develop them.

The goal is not to predict every future requirement. It is to establish whether the provider has a credible approach to evolving alongside your business.

Data ownership and portability: avoid unnecessary vendor lock-in

Your survey data, questionnaire designs, scripts, reporting structures and integrations represent valuable business assets.

When selecting a survey platform, it is important to understand how these assets can be accessed, exported and used if your requirements change.

Data portability is particularly relevant when evaluating a long-term software relationship because it affects your ability to adapt without incurring unnecessary disruption.

Understand what you can take with you

Do not limit the discussion to whether the vendor allows you to export completed survey responses.

Depending on your setup, you may also need access to:

• Historical datasets and associated metadata.
• Questionnaire structures and programming documentation.
• Codebooks, labels and variable definitions.
• Reports, dashboards and other outputs.

Not every platform can export every element in a directly reusable format. Some questionnaire logic, integrations or proprietary features may require reconstruction.

That is why it is important to identify these limitations before committing to a provider.

Review the contractual and technical details

Ask what export formats are available, whether additional fees apply, how long data remains accessible after termination and what procedures govern data deletion.

You should also understand the contractual allocation of rights and responsibilities concerning customer data, personal information and any third-party services involved.

For organizations subject to data protection obligations, these questions should be reviewed alongside applicable privacy, security and compliance requirements.

Portability is not simply about leaving a vendor. It is about retaining sufficient control over your data to make informed decisions throughout the relationship.

Performance and operational reliability: test the platform under real conditions

A survey platform can appear impressive during a demonstration but behave differently when handling the complexity and volume of actual projects.

For research teams, performance and reliability are directly connected to productivity, data collection and project delivery.

Before making a long-term commitment, test the platform using scenarios that resemble your real work.

Ask for evidence and clear commitments

Where reliability is business-critical, request information about monitoring, incident management, maintenance windows, backup procedures and disaster recovery.

If the vendor offers formal service-level agreements, review the precise definitions, exclusions and remedies.

For cloud deployments, understand the responsibilities of the software provider and any underlying infrastructure providers. For on-premise deployments, clarify the respective responsibilities for hosting, maintenance, upgrades and security.

A reliable survey platform is not defined only by its technical architecture. It also requires a clear operational model and a provider capable of helping customers manage problems effectively.

Survey platform migration: is switching really that difficult?

One reason organizations remain with an existing survey platform is the perceived complexity of migration.

This concern is understandable. Years of research activity may have produced extensive questionnaire libraries, custom scripts, integrations, reporting processes and specialized internal knowledge.

Moving to another platform can require considerable planning. However, the difficulty depends on the actual configuration and requirements of each organization.

The best approach is to assess migration feasibility before deciding whether to switch.

Start with a functional inventory

Identify the capabilities you use regularly and distinguish essential requirements from features that are rarely used.

Document:

• Questionnaire types and programming complexity.
• Data collection modes and fieldwork workflows.
• Sample management and quota requirements.
• Data exports, processing and reporting.
• Third-party integrations and custom developments.
• User permissions, training and operational procedures.

This inventory becomes the foundation for comparing the existing platform with potential alternatives.

Run a representative proof of concept

Instead of relying entirely on feature comparison tables, select one or more representative projects and assess how they could be implemented in the alternative platform.

Include the elements that make your work challenging, rather than choosing only a simple questionnaire.

A proof of concept can reveal functional differences, identify manual workarounds and help estimate the effort required to reproduce existing workflows.

It can also expose opportunities to simplify processes that have accumulated over years of using the same system.

Build a realistic migration plan

A practical plan should address data export and validation, questionnaire reconstruction, integration changes, user training and parallel testing where necessary.

It should also identify project owners, dependencies, potential downtime and the risks associated with ongoing fieldwork.

Where appropriate, a phased migration may reduce operational risk compared with moving every project at once.

The final decision should consider total cost of ownership, not just software licensing. Internal staff time, training, implementation services and temporary productivity impacts all matter.

A well-planned migration should be a controlled business decision, not a reaction to uncertainty.

Conclusion: choose a survey platform for the long term

The market research technology landscape will continue to evolve. Acquisitions, new technologies and changing customer expectations will influence the strategies of software providers.

For research teams, these developments are a reminder that choosing survey software requires a broader perspective than comparing features and subscription prices.

Ownership and independence, technical support, roadmap transparency, data portability, performance, migration feasibility and the quality of the vendor relationship all deserve consideration.

An acquisition does not automatically mean that a platform is no longer suitable. Equally, staying with an existing provider simply because migration appears difficult may prevent an organization from discovering a better fit.

The most effective approach is to evaluate your current platform against your actual requirements, identify potential risks and compare alternatives using clear, measurable criteria.

Looking for an alternative to your current survey platform?

At IdSurvey, we believe that survey technology should support the way research teams work, both today and in the future.

IdSurvey is an independently owned survey platform developed by IdWeb and delivered directly to customers, without intermediaries. Our approach brings together software development, technical expertise and a direct relationship with the organizations that use the platform.

Whether you are reviewing your current setup, exploring alternatives or planning a potential migration, we can help you assess your requirements and determine whether IdSurvey is the right fit for your research workflows.

Discover IdSurvey and get in touch with our team to discuss your survey technology requirements.