Marco Tapia, ex-CIO for P&O Ports and now managing director of Sydney-based IT services firm PicNet, said enterprises are getting the "rough end of the pineapple" from the tier-1s which "want to suck every drop of blood you have".

"There is a huge degree of dissatisfaction with large suppliers [who are] sending a lot of work overseas, which is a bigger problem," Tapia said.

"People are getting sick of [offshored] service and are tending to use small companies like ours which bend over backwards to make [customers] happy."

Last month, an online poll by Computerworld asked whether organizations would try smaller IT services firms in 2006. An overwhelming 57 percent of respondents answered "yes, the tier-1s are too slow and expensive", while 14 percent are not prepared to "take the risk", and 29 percent already selectively use smaller firms.

Tapia agrees with the survey results saying it is a "good sign" but doubts the shift towards tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers will occur this year, because it will "take longer to realize the poor level of service" now received.