10 Shocking Reasons Businesses Pick the Wrong IT Support Vendors

Here are 10 fascinating facts, statistics, and insights about WHY businesses select the wrong IT support vendors and what can potentially result.

1. They Pick the First One That Promises Uptime

According to a 2024 CompTIA survey, 68% of businesses report experiencing significant downtime due to misalignment between their actual IT needs and their vendor’s expertise, costing mid-sized companies an average of $84,000 per incident.

2. They Go for the Cheapest, Then Pay for It Later

Nearly 40% of businesses select IT vendors based primarily on cost rather than capability match, resulting in 2.3x higher total cost of ownership over a 3-year period due to inefficiencies and incomplete solutions.

3. They Skip the Test Drive

71% of businesses fail to conduct proper technical capability assessments before signing contracts, with only 22% testing vendor response times to critical issues during the evaluation process.

4. They Choose Someone Who Doesn’t Get Their Industry

Companies that select vendors without experience in their specific industry face 56% more security incidents and compliance issues than those working with industry-specialised providers.

5. They Keep Switching (Because It Never Works Out)

The average business changes IT support vendors every 2.7 years, with inadequate technical knowledge (47%), poor communication (42%), and unresponsive service (38%) cited as the top three reasons for switching.

6. They Get Swayed by a Fancy Pitch

Organisations often make vendor selection decisions based on impressive sales presentations rather than documented results, 65% don’t request or verify case studies and references from similar-sized businesses in their industry.

7. They Don’t Realise Security Will Suffer

Cybersecurity incidents cost businesses with mismatched IT vendors an average of $18,000 more per incident than those with properly aligned support, primarily due to longer detection and response times.

8. They Forget to Set Clear Rules

82% of businesses report that unclear service level agreements (SLAs) led to disputes about support responsibilities, with critical systems remaining unfixed for an average of 37 hours longer than anticipated.

9. They Didn’t Plan for Growth

Companies selecting vendors without properly assessing scalability experience 43% higher IT costs when expanding operations, frequently requiring expensive mid-contract changes or parallel systems.

10. They Leave the Tech Team Out of the Decision

Business leaders who include both technical staff and operational managers in vendor selection are 3.2x more likely to report satisfaction with their IT support relationship compared to those where decisions are made solely by executives or procurement.

At Ryoss, IT support isn’t just a service, it’s backed by a powerhouse of tech expertise across infrastructure, software, integration, and strategy. That means smarter, faster solutions with the muscle of a full-stack team behind every ticket. Want to know how we can simplify your IT headaches? Just reach out, we’re ready when you are.