Enterprise organisations—banks in particular—are more dependent on technology than ever. Digital differentiation, customer experience, cyber security, data protection, and regulatory compliance now sit at the heart of their strategy.
This creates enormous opportunity for technology suppliers.
It also massively increases supplier risk for the buyer.
As a result, enterprise procurement has not become simpler, faster, or more commercial. It has become more complex, more cautious, and more defensive.
And yet, most technology vendors still fail in exactly the same way they did a decade ago.
They fail to establish credibility.
Having spent years buying technology inside banks and large corporates—and then helping vendors sell into them—I still see the same mistakes repeated. Below are the four most common, and why they continue to matter.
Mistake 1: Failing to Understand How Enterprises Actually Buy
Enterprise buying is not rational, linear, or efficient.
It is fragmented, process-heavy, and risk-driven.
A single software or services decision can involve:
- Business sponsors
- IT and architecture
- Information security
- Risk and compliance
- Legal and procurement
- Finance and vendor management
Many of these stakeholders do not “decide” anything—but they can all block progress.
Processes are often milestone-driven rather than quality-driven. RFPs are issued because the plan says they must be. Response deadlines are set to meet internal dates, not to get the best outcome.
Add regulation, reputational risk, scale, performance, and data sensitivity—and the default behaviour becomes predictable:
“If this goes wrong, it must not be my fault.”
Vendors who sell as if they are dealing with a single buyer, a single problem, or a purely commercial decision misunderstand the environment they are operating in.
Modern takeaway:
Enterprise sellers win by reducing perceived risk, not by increasing excitement.