Most IT vendors aren't dishonest. The problem is structural: a lot of them make money on the products they recommend — through resale margin, vendor rebates, or commissions you never see. When the person advising you also profits from the answer, even good people drift toward the advice that pays. You don't need to assume bad intent. You just need to read the incentives.

Here are five signs the incentives are pointed the wrong way — and what to do about each.

1. Every problem's answer is "buy more"

Notice the pattern of recommendations over a year. If the fix for slowness is always new hardware, the fix for security is always another license, and the fix for downtime is always an upgrade — but tuning, configuration, and using what you already own never come up — you're getting a shopping list, not advice. Good problems often have zero-dollar answers. A commissioned advisor rarely finds them.

2. You can't get a straight comparison

Ask for two or three options with honest trade-offs and you get one recommendation with a quote attached. A real advisor will happily tell you where the cheaper option is good enough, or where a competitor's product is a better fit. If every conversation funnels to the one thing they sell, the funnel is the point.

3. The rebate list drives the roadmap

Vendors run partner programs — sell enough of Brand X and the reseller hits a tier that pays better. You'll never see that on an invoice, but you'll feel it: a sudden enthusiasm for one manufacturer, a "standard" that happens to match their best margin, pressure to standardize on the line they're incentivized to move. Ask directly: "Do you earn anything — margin, rebate, or commission — if we buy this?" The answer, and how comfortably they give it, tells you a lot.

4. "Managed" means locked in, not looked after

Some agreements are built to raise switching costs: proprietary tools, configs only they can touch, data that's hard to export, documentation that lives in their heads. That's not partnership — it's a moat. A vendor confident in their value keeps you because leaving would be unwise, not because it's impossible. If you couldn't take your environment elsewhere in 30 days, ask why.

5. The advice never costs them anything

The tell that ties the others together: their recommendations never involve them doing less or selling less. Real advice sometimes says "cancel this," "you're over-licensed," "you don't need us for that," or "keep what you have another year." If you've never once heard your provider talk you out of spending, their incentives and yours aren't aligned.

What to do about it

You don't have to fire anyone. You have to separate the advice from the sale.

  • Ask the incentive question out loud. "Do you make money if we buy this?" Note who answers plainly.
  • Get advice from someone who doesn't sell the thing. Keep your vendors for what they're good at; get the decision reviewed by someone with nothing to sell.
  • Own your own documentation and data. Insist on exportable data and written configs, wherever they're managed.

That separation is the whole reason I work the way I do: no products, no resale, no commissions — just independent advice and, when you want it, a second opinion on your IT. If you're not sure whether your current setup is serving you or selling you, the IT Decision Scorecard is a fast, honest gut-check, or book a call and we'll talk it through.