Majority of survey respondents say companies use preferred vendor lists

by Loraine Lawson | Feb 28, 2001 8:00:00 AM

Takeaway: If you use a preferred vendor list to guide purchasing decisions, how do you determine what vendors appear on that list? Find out how your methods compare to other TechRepublic members.

Companies frequently use preferred vendor lists to guide their purchasing decisions, according to a majority (69 percent of 118 respondents) of TechRepublic members responding to a CIO Republic survey.

Who controls that list? Our survey results broke down this way:

Twenty-eight percent said the chief technology executive controls the list.
Twenty-three percent said an IT team determines the list.
Twenty-one percent responded that a team consisting of different divisions/departments picks the preferred vendors.
Another 21 percent responded that IT managers determine the list.
One percent responded that the chief financial officer picks the preferred vendors.
Six percent responded that their preferred vendors are chosen by other means.

The survey also asked how companies primarily find vendors. The two top answers were through requests for proposals or requests for information, and references from peers.

To see how the respondents answered the rest of the survey questions, click on each question in Figure 1 below to view the corresponding survey results.

Figure 1

Results from TechRepublic’s CIO Republic survey concerning preferred vendor lists and vendor audits

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