A new report shows the extent at which decisions on IT are being taken outside the traditional IT department.
Beancounters at CompTIA revealed that the 45 percent of the ideas were now coming from outside the IT department.
The report said that more than half of those firms that were quizzed had used business unit budget to pay for technology purchases last year.
More than a quarter of final decisions about which projects got the final sign off were now being taken without the final nod from the IT department. Some of the places that were now exerting influence were finance, marketing, sales and logistics.
The move is bad news for channel salespeople who can no longer rely on their traditional contacts but examples are starting to emerge of opportunities that have grown out of the changing buying patterns.
Some channel outfits are seeing demand for products surge in retail with non-IT buyers taking the decisions themselves to bring in protection for stores and customers.
They are having meetings where IT haven’t been present which makes for a whole new range of opportunities.
Sales teams are having to learn new techniques because they are no longer pitching to people in a technology language and are more keen to see the actual effects of the product.
