A paltry 12 percent of enterprises canvass multiple vendors when buying IT equipment while 61 percent buy exclusively from current suppliers, according to the study of 200 Australian businesses with more than 500 employees.

Conducted in June this year, Technology Choices, a newly formed consultancy which employs a number of former Gartner analysts, undertook the research.

Sara Sause, Technology Choices managing director, said businesses that do not seek competitive prices are "slaves to the sales strategies of their current vendors".

"These businesses have given up their bargaining power and have become slaves to the sales strategies and upgrade cycles of their existing vendors," Sause said.

"Most Australian businesses have decided that it is simply easier to buy something from an existing supplier."