A recent IDC survey regarding the state of IT (in Sweden) in 2010 really did it’s best to expose the difference between buying and selling organizations. When asked about how they expect the IT market to develop in 2010 diametric answers were provided making one wonder where the two parties can actually meet.
The only area with a near resemblance of likeminded views was cloud computing:
- 46 percent of the suppliers believed that cloud computing would grow in 2010…
- …as opposed to 30 percent of the buyers
But from that point on, the gap grew larger with each asked question.
- 57 percent of the suppliers expected that sales would grow in 2010…
- …where-as only 27 percent of the buyers indicated that their IT budgets were growing
And when it came to outsourcing, the gap between seller and buyer expectations had grown to 37 percent as:
- 53 percent of the suppliers expected the outsourcing market would grow…
- …as opposed to a meager 16 percent of the buyers
Now there are probably numerous reasons that explain these variations but I dare say that sales and marketing almost by default are opportunistic by nature and set goals that are hard to reach yet in return yield great rewards. Buyers on the other hand are perceived as nay-sayers, and do their best to live up to that reputation.
So what can one learn from a quick exercise in sales to purchasing comparison.
As in real life, understanding the other side will be of great benefit to all parties.
