Was just reading this IDC report(Registration Required) that refers to the growing trend among business customers to to steadily reducethe number of IT vendor relationships they maintain.

• Almost 60% of customers indicated that their organizations are trying to reduce the number of IT relationships to a small number of "strategic" ones. Obviously, this has major implications for go-to-market strategies for vendors of all sizes.
• LOB executives say that their number 1 goal in this narrowing process is to consolidate responsibility for results of IT investments in fewer vendors' hands, getting down to a small number of "throats to choke." This is consistent with our research findings that IT is becoming an increasingly critical part of business strategy execution and that customers therefore want greater IT vendor accountability.
• It's tempting to think that this "fewer, deeper relationships" phenomenon, coupled with major vendors' recent wave of footprint-expanding acquisitions, is leading us back to the 1970s and early 1980s . a world of user loyalty (and lock-in) to a small number of vertically integrated behemoths. But our study suggests that the majority of customers have a more sophisticated view: Yes, they want strategic commitment and accountability from a small number of lead vendors, but they actually prefer IT leaders that bring a rich ecosystem of best-of-breed partnerships, rather than a single-vendor "stack." They don't want stronger relationships and accountability to come at the cost of less-than-best offerings.

Prashanth RaiTag(s):IT+Services.