Fifty-six percent of organizations feel very regretful about their biggest technology-related purchases, one Gartner survey said. Buyer remorse is causing frustration and is associated with slow processes that affect performance.
This year continues to be a relentless race for innovation and growth as organizations and businesses turn to technology to drive results, IBM speak. In January, Gartner signaled that 82% of CFOs are accelerating their digital transformation to make their businesses more competitive.
Companies that have yet to implement the technology they have purchased show the highest levels of frustration with purchasing experiences that take, on average, 7 to 10 months to complete.
According to Gartner, slow purchasing decisions lead to wasted time and resources and slower growth for the company.
Hank BarnesRenowned VP analyst at Gartner, told TechRepublic that the top cause of regret when it comes to technology purchases is conflicting goals between the buying team and unclear goals of what they want to achieve with technology they buy.
Gartner explains that the problem is becoming increasingly common as decision-making and funding for companies buying technology shifts from proprietary IT responsibility to a more democratized process.
“Another important factor includes a surface scratch assessment process versus a deep-dive approach that uncovers real impacts,” says Barnes.
Gartner focuses on the largest technology purchasing organizations making for all technology categories, including technology-related services. Vendors contribute to regret when they do not respond to specific requests for information or do not provide details for those more thorough assessments.
Technology purchase agreement and responsibility distribution
Based on Gartner67% of those involved in technology purchase decisions are not in the IT industry, and this can be a problem.
“Separation of responsibilities contributes to regret. We found that involving IT leadership can contribute to a reduction in regret,” added Barnes.
Involvement of IT and technology professionals in purchasing and decision-making processes can promote better purchases, less regret, and better support the operational impacts of decisions.
“The number one thing you can do to reduce regret is promote agreement on the goal of the purchase,” explains Barnes.
Once companies have agreed on the goals of a technology purchase, creating more diverse buying groups with more cross-functional engagement will lead to more efficient, faster purchases, and greater productivity. more satisfaction.
“In addition to fostering consensus on a goal early in the process, Gartner will encourage the creation of diverse teams that bring multiple perspectives to support a more thoughtful and informed decision,” says Barnes. speak.
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How to avoid regrets when buying technology?
To avoid becoming an unfortunate number for technology purchase statistics, Gartner recommends that organizations work with their vendors to truly understand the product.
Companies should ask suppliers to share comprehensive case studies that not only discuss the results, but also cover how the results were achieved.
New technologies, like cloud solutions, require migration and involve a learning curve before being fully operational. Therefore, before purchasing technology, it is essential to evaluate the effort that will be made or transformed by that technology.
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“Invite people who will be users of the system to participate to gauge their readiness and comfort with changing the way they work,” added Barnes.
The leading companies that do not regret buying technology have focused and disciplined strategies as opposed to “High Regret Buyer”.
No regrets, buyers do not engage in intensive activities with other suppliers, avoiding execution planning, scoping, testing, and other activities. However, they do participate in four or more of these activities with the provider of their choice. While they can review content, products, and solutions from all vendors, they manage their time better, set goals, and build stronger relationships with their vendors. .
“To change strategy, we need to think about psychology beyond buying motivation, including how we approach decisions and which groups are driving the strategy,” explains Barnes.
Gartner developed a psychological model called Profile of enterprise technology application (ETA). It goes beyond the motives of buying technology and includes an approach to decisions and which teams are driving sales. ETAs can help high-tech suppliers transition from a product-market strategy to a tailored product-customer strategy.
Gartner also recommends high-tech vendors:
- Focus investments and efforts on supporting “best-fit” scenarios.
- The “best” scenarios include the right offer, message, content, engagement, and activity.
- Suppliers should train customer-facing teams to recognize customer characteristics that indicate the “best fit”.
- Trained customer contact teams should also know how to adjust their approach when a prospect falls between “best fit” and “should be avoided.”
“The message to executives is that a combination of thoroughness, discipline and focus will speed things up dramatically,” Barnes said.
