Cost least important factor in spend on IT

Cost is not the main factor in IT decision-making - on the contrary, it could well be the least important.

That's according to the latest research from Quocirca research division QNB Intelligence which has found suppliers are much more concerned with cost and return on investment (ROI) than buyers - only 40 per cent of whom consistently incorporate ROI into their business cases.

Instead, companies are still likely to buy more on non-financial elements such as performance, scalability and less quantifiable benefits to a business overall brought about through technologies such as employee relationship management (ERM), CRM and wireless.

"First of all buyers simply want the job done," said Quocirca service director Dale Vile. "If all else is equal, then [they will decide] on cost."

However, a pitfall for vendors and service providers is that "all else" is seldom the same.

The Quocirca research note, based on interviews with 1,500 IT pros and decision-makers, casts doubt on why users opt for specific technologies.

"Despite the marketing decibels and press column inches associated with Linux and 'low cost computing', the same is also true of hardware and operating systems," it reads.

Vile added that companies must go through a range of decision-making before such a "tactical end game part of the whole process" and the answer - also for suppliers trying to understand buying decisions - is to focus on a total value proposition.