IT’s Dirty Secret: It’s Not Engineering, It’s Just Vendor Management

The IT Engineering Illusion: Why It’s Time for a Change

Let’s be honest—if most IT professionals calling themselves "engineers" were thrown into civil, mechanical, or electrical engineering, they wouldn’t last a day. Real engineers optimise for efficiency, safety, and performance. They test, iterate, refine. They manage risk, not just avoid it. IT, on the other hand, has become a world of vendor lock-in, risk aversion, and bureaucratic inertia. Instead of solving problems from first principles, IT teams follow vendor guidelines, trusting that the expensive badge on the box means it must be the best option (Gartner, 2022).

The result? Bloated budgets, underperforming systems, and technical stagnation. IT doesn’t need another Cisco renewal or another decade of vendor-dependent infrastructure—it needs an engineering revolution.

Why IT Is Stuck in the Past

Real engineers look at a problem and ask, how do we solve this in the most efficient, resilient way? IT, however, asks, what does Cisco, VMware, or Microsoft recommend?

Instead of designing infrastructure tailored to real-world needs, IT teams throw money at "safe" vendors because they fear making the wrong call. If a bridge collapses, civil engineers analyse the failure and improve future designs. If a network goes down, IT blames the vendor and renews the support contract. That’s not engineering—it’s abdication of responsibility (Smith & Patel, 2021).

And it’s not just about spending. IT security teams have evolved into blockers rather than enablers, shutting down business processes rather than finding ways to make them work safely (Johnson, 2022). A department needs a system that requires network access? “No, that’s not allowed.” A critical new application demands API integration? “Too risky, we don’t do that.” Instead of mitigating the risk, they just say no. But real engineering is about balancing innovation and risk, not shutting down progress because it’s easier.

There’s an old cybersecurity joke that says, “In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have any users.” The irony, of course, is that enabling users is the entire point. Security should empower people to do their jobs safely, not lock everything down in the name of risk aversion (Johnson, 2022).

How IT Can Finally Become a True Engineering Discipline

I know this because I’ve seen it from both sides. I’ve worked in IT for more than 20 years, building infrastructure and running high-performance networks. But since expanding into civil and now mechatronic engineering, the contrast between IT and real engineering is staggering. Where IT avoids risk, true engineering disciplines embrace it as part of innovation. Where IT justifies inefficiency with brand loyalty, real engineers optimise for performance and cost-effectiveness (Australian National Audit Office [ANAO], 2023).

In real engineering, designs must stand on merit and consensus, facing rigorous scrutiny rather than being blindly approved because Cisco says it’s okay.

IT needs to move past its fear-based decision-making and start thinking like real engineers. That means designing infrastructure from first principles, questioning vendor monopolies, and demanding better outcomes—not just brand-name hardware.

First, Stop Buying and Start Engineering

If a government agency decides to build a new bridge, they don’t just buy one from the “best brand.” They design it to fit the environment, traffic, and cost constraints. IT should do the same. Instead of blindly renewing VMware licences, why not test Proxmox? Instead of paying millions for Cisco, why not see if Mikrotik or OpenSwitch can do the same job for a fraction of the cost? Studies have shown that vendor lock-in significantly increases IT costs while limiting flexibility (Gartner, 2022).

Next, Build for Resilience Instead of Buying It

Redundancy should be designed into the infrastructure, not purchased through expensive vendor SLAs. Real engineers create self-healing systems that can fail gracefully and recover independently. Yet IT teams still pay millions for vendor-backed failover solutions, when they could be designing resilience into their networks and applications themselves. Research indicates that open-source networking solutions can reduce costs by up to 70% while maintaining reliability (Smith & Patel, 2021).

Hold IT Accountable for Waste

If a civil engineer over-engineers a bridge and blows the budget, they get called in to justify every dollar. In IT? Overpaying for Cisco and VMware gets you promoted. Procurement teams should demand cost justification for every renewal, force real-world trials of competing technologies, and hold IT accountable for failing to optimise spending. A 2023 audit of public sector IT spending found that vendor lock-in and legacy procurement policies led to an average of 30% in unnecessary costs (ANAO, 2023).

Cybersecurity Needs to Enable, Not Block

Security teams need to rethink their role. Instead of reflexively saying “No, that’s too risky,” they should say “Yes, but let’s make it secure.” Blocking entire business processes because of one potential vulnerability is lazy thinking. If a piece of hardware phones home to China, block that function, not the entire device. If an API poses a risk, secure it properly instead of banning integrations outright. Research has shown that companies with proactive cybersecurity strategies achieve better innovation outcomes without increasing security risks (Johnson, 2022).

The Future of IT Engineering

If IT truly embraced engineering principles, we’d see:

• Massive cost savings—No more $10 million projects for something that could have been done for $2 million.

• More resilient infrastructure—IT professionals designing self-repairing, efficient systems instead of relying on vendors to solve their problems.

• Faster innovation—Shifting from brand-based decision-making to function-based decision-making.

• Better-skilled professionals—Attracting real engineers, not just vendor-certified administrators.

The Bottom Line

IT has gotten away with calling itself engineering without actually earning it. But that’s not sustainable. Budgets are tightening, vendor lock-in is strangling innovation, and leadership is starting to demand real efficiency instead of brand loyalty. If IT doesn’t shift now—if it doesn’t start acting like an engineering discipline—then it will continue to be a bloated, reactive, over-budget mess.

The challenge now is for IT professionals to step up, challenge outdated procurement practices, and push for real engineering discipline in their field. The time for complacency is over—it's time to demand efficiency, innovation, and accountability in IT.

References

Australian National Audit Office. (2023). Public sector IT procurement and spending inefficiencies: An audit report. Canberra, Australia.

Gartner. (2022). The hidden cost of vendor lock-in and how to break free. Gartner Research.

Johnson, M. (2022). Balancing cybersecurity and business innovation: A study on enterprise security strategies. Journal of Cybersecurity Research, 18(4), 235-250.

Smith, R., & Patel, K. (2021). Cost efficiency and reliability in open-source networking: A comparative study. International Journal of Networking Systems, 12(3), 112-129.