What do you look for in your IT services provider? Survey part three.

Over the last two days I have reported the findings of a survey looking at the IT services plans of businesses in Europe and North America.

Part one looked at how IT services budgets will change next year. See it here.

Part two revealed what the drivers for I service budget increases and decreases are. See it here.

Today in part three, I can reveal the main influences on supplier selection in Europe.

Unsurprisingly price is one of the most important factors with 62.8% of respondents putting it down as an influence on supplier choice. But the biggest influence, with 71.5% selecting it is deep expertise in the technology or application. see table for more.

In North America the results were very similar.

When selecting an IT Service Provider for your firm, which are the most important properties for that firm to have? (select up to 3 responses)
Price		62.80%
Vendor has deep expertise in the technology or application		71.50%
Vendor with whom we already have an existing relationship		32.90%
Top Tier Provider with a global reputation		14.60%
Local / Lives in my community		11.00%
Independent - not from the hardware or software vendor		3.70%
Is authorized and / or certified by hardware vendor to support or implement product.		24.80%
Is well known / recognized in my firm's industry		17.50%
Is the vendor that sold us the product being serviced		3.70%
Other		2.20%