According to IDC's IT Services and Solutions Survey, 73.7 percent of respondents would consider using the same provider for both IT services and telecom needs.

This strong response came as a bit of a surprise, says Jenna Griffin, IT services market analyst at IDC New Zealand.

'ICT (Information and Communications Technology) convergence is a key trend within the IT market and this opens up huge potential, for both IT solutions' providers that have telecommunications capabilities, such as VoIP, and for telco companies that can provide traditional IT, as well,' says Griffin.

The 236 survey respondents are IT decision-making professionals in the public and private sector who have spent NZ$100,000 (US$61,715) or more on IT over the past year.

But, although most respondents seemed keen on a single converged IT-telco services provider, many were also keen on best-of-breed solutions, says Griffin.