New Gartner Survey Reveals Gaps in Government Technology Buying Process

A recent Gartner Inc. study found that the public sector has the longest purchase cycle for technology purchases, averaging 22 months.

Gartner surveyed 1,120 executives, including 79 in the public sector, living in North America, Western Europe, or Asia/Pacific. 7% of her respondents were from Canada and 36% were from the United States. Respondents should be at manager level or above and be aware of or involved in large-scale purchasing activities for software, services, hardware, managed services, or integrated solutions.

More than 48% of public sector respondents reported moderate to significant delays in their technology buying cycle, with the majority of respondents reporting three stages of the buying process: initial research, engagement and provider selection, and contract) take between 3 and 12 months, resulting in an average cycle of 22 months.

Public sector purchasing teams are complex, according to the report. Government executives (41%) are more likely than private sector executives (55%) to follow the buying cycle more often than private executives (55%) to avoid the impression of political influence over their purchases and to avoid media questions about whether there are problems with the purchasing process. less likely to participate in

Appleby’s information technology (IT) procurement attorney, Information technology tradingDuncan Card, suggests that high IT executive turnover and discontinuity in IT executive succession in the public sector further explain the long and complex technology buying cycle.

The report argues that public sector purchasing teams also tend to involve lower-level operational staff with professional responsibilities. Card added that many people in the public sector have not consulted the literature on performing complex IT transformation or IT outsourcing transactions. “I think there is a general indifference to professional involvement in any kind of rigid transaction or IT procurement that clearly requires adult supervision,” he said.

Additionally, 74% of public sector respondents reported delays in business case development, with 76% citing scope changes and budgeting as the cause of delays.

In contrast, 68% of public sector respondents said delays were caused by a lack of specific product information and implementation requirements details from providers.

Gartner recommends that technology providers maintain an accessible list of public sector reference clients and a diverse library of value-focused product literature that can be leveraged at all stages of the buying cycle.

Card affirms: The project failure rate learned an easy and simple lesson to avoid most of those failures. ”