Before a new tool demo, walk through the last time the problem happened
When your operations manager asks for a new tool, ask them to walk you through the last time the problem happened, step by step, before anyone watches a demo.
Teams ask for tools when the process is broken, because a tool is easier to request than a change in how people work. A purchase feels like progress. Changing how three people hand off work feels like a fight.
The walkthrough shows you which kind of problem you have. Sometimes it is a real gap: the information exists nowhere, or the work cannot be done by hand at the volume you now run. A tool can fix that.
Other times you hear something like "Maria emails the order to the warehouse, the warehouse prints it, and if Maria is out nobody knows." A tool might help there by making the order visible. It might also copy the same gap into software, with a subscription attached. The walkthrough is how you tell.
Three questions after it. Where exactly did it go wrong, and who noticed? Would the tool have prevented it, or only shown it to someone faster? What would have to change in how people work for the tool to help?
Clear answers mean the request is ready to weigh on cost and alternatives. Vague ones mean the handoff needs fixing first.