Survey: State, local IT execs favor price, service more than handshakes

Price, service and response time are state and local government information technology executives’ most important IT purchasing decision criteria, according to a survey released this week. They ranked personal relationships with a sales representative as only moderately important.

Citrix Systems conducted an online survey of 124 state and local government IT buyers that found 46 percent of respondents named reseller/value-added resellers as their primary source for IT purchases, followed by 23 percent of existing contractors, 16 percent of manufacturers and 15 percent of technology-specific providers.

Although 48 percent said they preferred to work with large resellers that offer a broad range of options, market depth was also considered a priority, with 38 percent of IT professionals indicating a preference for resellers with a specific state and local focus. Thirty-eight percent of respondents characterized their IT providers as trusted partners rather than product providers.

State and local government IT officials also expressed preferences for specific vendor brands, especially with regard to software. Seventy-four percent of respondents said their relationships with independent software vendors were very or somewhat important. In addition, more respondents, 61 percent, ranked previous experience with the reseller as more important than the reseller’s range of products at 44 percent.

“The survey results point to an opportunity for IT providers to improve their relationships with state and local executives through deeper partnerships and continued high service levels,” Bert Wakeley, director of State and Local Government sector at Citrix, said in a statement.