Gartner Insights Abstract

How to Avoid Buyer’s Remorse When Expanding Vendor Relationships

Published: 30 January 2024

Summary

Midsize enterprises that expand vendor relationships based on internal factors, realistic expectations and positive experiences are more likely to be satisfied. MSEs should use this research to improve their vendor buying decisions, drawing insights from both satisfied and dissatisfied peers.

Included in Full Research

Overview

Key Findings
  • Midsize enterprises (MSEs) that were overly ambitious with scope, managing conflicting stakeholder objectives or simply unprepared overwhelmingly reported that expansion decisions failed to meet expectations.

  • Satisfied MSEs expanded their vendor relationships based on internal factors like expanded needs, growth and new use cases over external factors like user recommendations, competitive pressure and third-party research.

  • Satisfied MSEs reported that regular account manager interactions, marketplace benchmark data, project plans and customer conferences played crucial roles in expanding vendor relationships.

Recommendations

CIOs leading IT in midsize enterprises should:

  • Set specific and realistic expectations and commit to them when expanding tech hardware, software and managed

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Analysts:

William Maurer Srishti Khanna

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