IT professionals distrust their main suppliers, survey shows

A survey of 150 IT professionals has highlighted distrust of IT suppliers, with many IT professionals believing their IT provider has curbed their ability to use IT to grow the business and others feeling that upgrades have not met their expectations.

The majority of IT decision-makers surveyed said they had experienced issues with IT providers that inhibit their ability to move forward.

Overall, 85% of the IT professionals who participated in the survey said they believe that their organisation would see faster business growth if IT suppliers were less restrictive, while 69% believe their organisations growth and development has been restricted by IT suppliers’ contracts.

The survey, run by Cogeco Peer 1, also showed that less than fifth of the people surveyed said they were happy with the IT services and systems implemented.

Almost 75% of respondents said an IT upgrade has not lived up to expectations. Among the main reasons for this was that the system did not integrate well with existing systems (65%) and the technology was too immature or unproven (45%). Almost a quarter (24%) believed the supplier did not add the expected value.

Only 14% of IT professionals said they are happy with the service they receive from their main IT provider.

More than seven in 10 respondents stated that cost (75%) or service (71%) are in their top three factors that matter the most to their organisation when looking for an IT provider, with around a quarter (22%) saying that service is the most important factor.

Susan Bowen, vice-president and general manager of EMEA at Cogeco Peer 1, said: “Good customer service has often been overlooked in favour of competitive pricing and exciting new products in the IT market, but more businesses are finding the service they receive isn’t living up to their expectations or needs, as they grow.”

The survey found that when it comes to pricing, businesses are not necessarily looking for those providers willing to engage in a race to the bottom.

Although price does remain the main concern, and with budgets tightening in light of uncertainty around Brexit, IT executives are increasingly recognising the need for strong scalability capability to cope with the peaks and troughs they experience, according to Cogeco Peer 1.