Neither is the extension of that strategy -- switching to a cheaper vendor -- an option. "Unfortunately IT products are not like the cars of yore which any garage could tinker with. They are more like today's cars, they need support from the original vendors," says a CIO.

Keeping Up the Pressure

Whatever benefits CIOs can manage to wrangle out of their vendor, it is vital that they renegotiate. Especially since market analysts do not see a recovery over the next three quarters at least. More and more forward-looking CIOs are using the slowdown to benefit their businesses with impressive deals. In addition, renegotiating forces the due diligence and the discipline needed to trim an organization -- all of which will go a long way in getting enterprises in shape and ready for the market when it picks up.

"This [slowdown] is also an opportunity to re-look at priorities," says a CIO. "There were other aims, too. This gave us the opportunity to look at whether our contract was right in the context of what we were doing. Sometimes, during the good times we add a lot of things which may not be useful in hindsight."

Creating friction it seems, is really the only way to make the best use of the slowdown. And the tug-of-war between vendors and CIOs is important because it keeps the rope up and the game on. It's when no one is pulling that there's a problem.