The IT Vendor-Customer Relationship Is Fraught with Disappointment and Worse

Relationships between technology vendors and their customers often start out sweet and turn sour, thanks to unmet expectations, half-truths, or products and services that simply don't work as advertised.

While it's hardly unusual to have strained buyer-seller relationships in any industry, dealings with technology vendors can be particularly thorny because of the complexity of the products -- you simply can't tell without an in-depth evaluation whether a complicated ERP package or networking equipment will meet your organization's needs.

"Vendors, like people, always present themselves and their products in the most flattering, if not most accurate, light," says Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, an industry analysis firm. "The sheer complexity of some IT solutions creates opportunities for easy flimflams, as does customers' ignorance."

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