Companies in a wide range of industries have successfully worked out when and how to develop stronger partnerships with vendors; automakers and other manufacturers, for instance, have long cut costs and spurred innovation by partnering with key suppliers. Yet few companies have taken this approach with IT vendors. What's holding the rest back?

Our research indicates that although a majority of technology executives want to have stronger relationships with their IT suppliers, they often act in ways that undermine that goal. In fact, many corporate customers lose out on the potential benefit of a closer relationship by engaging in value-destroying or inconsistent behavior—too much emphasis on costs, say—when they interact with vendors.

McKinsey interviewed IT executives at 23 companies representing a wide range of industries to learn about technology-purchasing patterns, criteria, and priorities over the next 12 to 36 months. We found not only a number of factors that subvert effective buyer-vendor relationships but also ways for both parties to increase the value they deliver and receive.

The benefits of partnership

Although 20 percent of the executives we interviewed regard costs—not added value—as the top priority, 70 percent said that they want to move away from purely transactional relationships by...