Systems integrators preferred to vendors

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 27 September 2005 10:00

IT Industry - Market

A survey of 922 IT decision-makers in the US have given the thumbs down to software and hardware vendors when it comes to leading major project implementations.

According to research group Forrester, responses to a survey of who decision makers wanted to lead their major implementation projects found that half choose internal staff to lead packaged applications implementations, while 24% use a major systems integrator. A further 13% percent selected local integrators or value-added resellers (VARs), and only 8% reported that they hire the services arm of their software company to lead the implementation.

According to Forrester, the data validates its conversations with clients, who say that they primarily view software vendors' services groups as a source of very specific product expertise and not of project management or business knowledge.

In the area of infrastructure, respondents overwhelmingly wanted internal resources to lead infrastructure projects. But 27% choose major systems integrators to lead infrastructure implementations, and another 13% choose local integrators or VARs. A mere 5% of respondents use the services arm of an infrastructure vendor to lead a project. This is a shift from two years ago, when respondents overwhelmingly reported that they preferred hardware vendors to help them overhaul their infrastructure.