The Outcome Economy: A Buyer's Perspective
- Stuart Medhurst
- Feb 5
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 5
Stratavus Outcome Economy Series - Part 2
Why Buying Technology Has Always Been So Difficult
For buyers, acquiring Information Technology has always felt harder than buying most other types of equipment. In manufacturing for example, you might invest in CNC lathes, mills or welding machines and can easily quantify what they will do and what success looks like. With IT, the link between investment and outcome has often been much less clear.
This gap became especially obvious during the dot‑com and e‑business eras and we are seeing the same pattern repeated today with AI. The outcome economy offers a way for buyers to regain clarity and control.
This shift sits within what we call the Outcome Economy, where organisations compete on measurable results rather than products.
From Dot-Com to AI: How Hype Drives Technology Investment
During the dot‑com boom, many organisations were told they “had” to be on the web and needed an online presence, without a clear answer to why or what that would actually do for the business. Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) drove investment, shaping the industry for decades. After the boom and bust came e‑Business, presented as the way to finally exploit those earlier investments.
The problem was that not every company needed full e‑Business capabilities at that time. Core challenges like fulfilment, shipping and logistics were often unresolved, creating bottlenecks. When the focus is only on justifying IT spend, those operational issues became “someone else’s problem”.
Today, you can see similar dynamics around AI. There is a huge volume of noise: you must adopt AI, your teams must use it and you must show an AI position if you want VC funding. Some early adopters and industry observers are already talking about an “AI product bust” because they are not realising the value they expected. In many cases, they never defined that value in the first place and vendors will not do that work for them.
The Questions You Should Ask When Buying Technology
From a buyer’s perspective, achieving clarity is not actually complicated. The core questions are:
What change are we looking for?
What success do we need to see in the business?
Why are we even considering this technology now?
Many organisations have matured in their use of technology and can now ask, “What does this actually do for me?”. At its core, any technology creates efficiency: it frees up units of time and capacity to be used for something else. You need to be explicit about where that freed‑up capacity should show up and how you will know it is real.
If someone in your organisation or a vendor is telling you that you “have” to do something, the simplest and most powerful response is: why?
First-Mover Hype vs Second-Mover Advantage when Buying Technology
FUD is still a popular sales tool. You will hear warnings that you will be left behind and you will see “first mover advantage” used as a rallying cry. When you hear that, a good question is: so what? Why does moving first matter here and how will it show up in your outcomes?
In reality, there is often a strong second‑mover advantage. Second movers can:
Watch what early adopters do.
Study what works and what does not.
Execute only against proven approaches.
Avoid the time, cost and pain of failed experiments.
Leverage when vendors move from heterogeneous products to vertical solutions
This is highly relevant for AI. It is absolutely worth monitoring, reading about and staying aware of developments. Newsletters like TLDR can help you keep a quick pulse on what might be relevant. But if someone insists you must “get on board” right now, your response should be: why and to what end?
Defining Success Before Buying Technology
In the outcome economy, your starting point as a buyer is not the technology; it is your business.
You need to ask:
Where do we expect to create a difference?
What does success look like for our business, in our terms?
How will we measure that success?
You then keep those answers front and centre in every conversation with vendors, suppliers and partners. When they want to talk speeds and feeds, features and functions, as the IT industry has done for decades, do not let that become the main story. You acknowledge the capability, then bring the discussion back to: so what?
If a vendor claims their product is “best in class” or “best of breed,” remember that almost everyone says that. More importantly, best in class usually comes with higher acquisition costs and higher ongoing costs to use and operate. Usability costs can be significant.
Think of cars. If everyone bought “best in class,” we would all be driving something like a Bugatti or Rimac. In reality, most of us buy practical, family‑oriented vehicles or simple commuter cars that match specific needs. IT is similar: very few organisations truly need “supercar” solutions. Do not let generic “best” claims distract you from your actual outcomes.
How to Keep Vendor Conversations Focused on Outcomes
When you engage technology vendors, keep asking:
What business transformation are we looking for?
What specific change in performance or service do we want?
Are we aiming for better customer outcomes, faster response times or a shift from break‑fix to service contracts?
Your definition of success must stay front and centre and you should not let anyone sway you from it. If a vendor cannot articulate how their product maps to your desired outcomes or provide examples of similar customers achieving those outcomes, that is a warning sign. It may mean they do not have the experience to make you successful or do not measure success in that way.
Many vendors train their teams on sales methodologies such as MEDDICC or MEDDPICC, which are excellent for managing pipelines, forecasts and QBRs but those frameworks are about closing deals, not making customers successful. In many technology businesses, success is someone else’s problem: customer success teams, partners or services pick up where sales leave off.
As a buyer, you cannot assume that gap will magically close. You have to insist on your outcomes.
Practical Steps for a Buyer in the Outcome Economy
If you are not yet clear on your success criteria, invest time up front to define them. You may even bring in external help like Stratavus, to sharpen this thinking. Once you have that clarity, you can approach technology conversations very differently.
For every potential solution, ask:
This is what we need to achieve:
How does your product support that?
Can you show examples, data or references where customers achieved similar outcomes?
How will you measure and prove that these outcomes have been delivered?
If a vendor cannot answer those questions convincingly, you may be looking at a solution that is optimised for their revenue, not your success. Vendors who operate with Outcome-Driven Selling are able to connect their solutions directly to measurable customer success.
Let Outcomes Lead and Technology Follow
In the outcome economy, the most important word for a buyer is why: why are we doing this and what difference will we see if it works? Keep that question at the heart of every decision and let the technology follow, not lead. True success happens through Customer Outcome Realisation, where value is measured and proven after implementation.
Stratavus Outcome Economy Series
This is the fourth post in a five part series about the Outcome Economy. The series is a short introduction to all aspects of the Outcome Economy.
The Outcome Economy From A Buyers Perspective (this post)
What The Outcome Economy Looks Like In Practice
Many leaders recognise these patterns but struggle to shift them in practice. If you’re exploring what an outcome-led approach could look like in your environment, we’re always open to a conversation.
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