experience expertise

From partner to problem: 5 red flags in your supplier setup

IT outsourcing once felt like a game-changing lifeline: efficient, cost effective and freeing up focus. But now, the rope is tightening on modern IT suppliers, as IT leaders seek to break free of over dependencies.

After years of outsourcing, many IT leaders are facing a growing unease: a creeping sense of over dependency on external suppliers of IT consultants. And they are right to be concerned.

If your supplier suddenly holds the key to your systems, processes, and strategic roadmap, you most likely haven’t just outsourced support. You’ve handed over control.

At emagine, we often see organisations question their vendor relationships and rethink the balance. And that pattern is only becoming more pronounced, according to emagine’s Head of Managed Solutions, Christian Ståhlberg.

But how do you know when it’s time to pull back? These 5 red flags could signal that your supplier setup might be holding you back.

1. You get results – but have no idea how

Imagine hiring a contractor to manage your warehouse, but you’re never allowed inside. You just get a bill and a vague report every month and are asked to trust the process. How can you, exactly?

Without visibility into the processes, tools, or decisions being made, you’re left in the dark and out of control.

I've seen too many setups where clients are kept out of the loop ‘for convenience’.” Christian Ståhlberg says. “Unfortunately, that’s often a fast track to losing control. When we enter partnerships, we make sure that the partnership is built on trust - not dependency. And trust always starts with transparency.

So let’s be clear: If your supplier delivers outcomes, but you don’t know what’s happening behind the curtains, you are not in control. Transparency is the ultimate prerequisite for having ownership of your IT.

2. You are paying more – but seeing less

Outsourcing promised lower costs and leaner operations. But if your invoices now read like financial riddles, stacked with unclear expenses, change requests, and unexpected extras, you may have lost more than just technical control.

Be on the lookout! Some large consultancies actually craft contracts like smoke and mirrors, favouring opacity over clarity in terms of pricing. So a rule of thumb: When the pricing model benefits from your confusion, you are not just outsourcing work. You are bleeding budget.

3. You set the terms – but now you serve them

If you’re being completely honest, how often do you revisit the contract? If you and your supplier spend more time negotiating your contract than actually driving business value, something is broken.

Transparency is the ultimate prerequisite for having ownership of your IT.

It should go without saying that healthy partnerships evolve through collaboration, not constant scope fights and escalations. But some suppliers lean into this tension. In fact, they build operating models around tight clauses and extra fees, turning your partnership into a battleground.

That’s not just inefficient. It’s a sign of a toxic vendor relationship.

4. You needed support – but got a takeover

You signed up for expert guidance. Not an external dictatorship. Somewhere along the way their setups, systems and ways of working started shaping more than the delivery. They also shaped your strategy and direction.

This is a classic side effect of overdependency. The more you rely on their tools, processes, and people, the harder it becomes to push back or pivot. Before long, your roadmap reflects their model, not your own goals.

“We’ve seen companies where the supplier slowly became the strategy. Not because anyone planned it, but because no one questioned it soon enough.” Ståhlberg says, adding: “Outsourcing shouldn’t cost you control and if it has, it’s time to take it back.”

5. You signed up for freedom – but got trapped

And now, the ultimate red flag: You. Simply. Can’t. Leave.

It probably goes without saying, but if breaking off with your supplier would mean breaking up your operations, you are in too deep. Either by fault or design, some IT providers have delivery structures that end up centralising everything around them: proprietary platforms, (undocumented) integrations and offshore teams you’ll never meet.

And while it might work perfectly in the honeymoon stage, the minute you want to pull the plug, you realize the operational chaos it would leave the business in.

So ask yourself: Is your supplier a piece of the puzzle, or the very table it is built on?

Take back ownership!

Hopefully, you can’t tick off all of the boxes above. But if some of them do hit a bit too close to home, now is the time to sound the alarm.

It can be a formal chat about the nature of your relationship, or it can be a full out termination of the partnership. Remember, over dependency isn’t just a technology issue. It’s a business risk.

At emagine, we believe that real consultancy enables sovereignty. We don’t embed to take over. We embed to build you up – bringing expertise that leaves you stronger, smarter, and more in control than when we arrived.

That’s why with our managed services, we don’t just deliver outcomes, we build internal strength. You get high-performing teams, proven processes, and scalable delivery without losing ownership or oversight.

“I like to say, that we help you stay in the driver’s seat while our managed solutions power the engine. That means you can move forward with confidence, knowing we’re right there beside you – never in front of you.” Ståhlberg concludes.

It leaders are reclaiming control - here´s why

Author

Chrstian Ståhlberg

Head of Managed Solutions

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experience expertise

From partner to problem: 5 red flags in your supplier setup

1. You get results – but have no idea how

2. You are paying more – but seeing less

3. You set the terms – but now you serve them

4. You needed support – but got a takeover

5. You signed up for freedom – but got trapped

Take back ownership!

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