IT service managers cite relationships with IT vendors as important

More than a third of IT service managers describe the relationship with their IT vendors as 'Thelma and Louise' or best friends according to a survey of attendees at last month’s IT Service Management Forum Australia.

However, 31% of attendees also said that their relationship could be compared to “Paris Hilton and whoever”, a temporary alliance of mutual benefit.

The survey, conducted by Applaud, a provider of managed IT, service desk and professional services, found that 60% of organisations will select their IT service management provider based on the vendor’s ability to understand its organisation’s specific IT and business requirements.

Forty-one per cent of respondents also revealed that the second most important ingredient in choosing a vendor is based on a vote of confidence in the vendors’ long-term commitment to the end-user’s specific requirements.

Surprisingly, of least importance in selecting a vendor is the company’s financial strength and potential vertical market industry experience.

Investment intentions for the year ahead were also revealed in the survey. 38% of respondents plan to maintain their IT investments while 31% will increase their IT budgets over the next 12 months.

Key drivers for investment in IT service management cited by respondents include a focus on data centre management, service desk infrastructure, asset management and cloud management.

Within these segments, 44% of organisations will channel investment into systems management while 38% plan to invest in operating systems and SOE development. 37% also plan to invest in virtualised infrastructure.

Integration or lack of compatibility between products was cited as the biggest issue facing purchasing and procurement teams when specifying IT management solutions. One in four organisations also felt that they had insufficient qualified talent to make informed decisions of what they actually required when specifying IT management solutions.

Ricci Danieletto, Managing Director of Applaud, said, “The survey points to changing dynamics between vendors and end users with close partnerships now the clear order of the day. At the same time, with IT budgets on a robust footing, the survey suggests that vendors will need to ensure that they have the skills to provide and service solutions which add value in a whole host of areas from virtualisation and storage to project and systems management.”