Enterprise IT leaders in the US are under pressure to innovate fast, secure the business, and prove ROI, all while navigating budget constraints, tech debt, and shifting regulatory expectations. That’s why knowing where they’re investing is only half the picture.

The other half? Understanding where they’ve drawn the line on IT budget priorities.

Recent closed-door roundtable discussions with senior IT leaders from large US organisations revealed a consistent and surprisingly candid thread: there are certain technologies, approaches and sales behaviours they’re actively moving away from.

For solution providers, this is not a warning – it’s a competitive advantage. Knowing where not to pitch is just as important as knowing where to lean in. Here we’ll unpack the areas being deprioritised in 2025 and explain why your team may be wasting time chasing dead-end deals.

The End of Untargeted Point Solutions

Enterprise IT departments are suffering from integration fatigue. Years of fast SaaS adoption and department-led purchasing have created a fragmented tech ecosystem, and IT leaders are fed up.

What they’re saying:

• “We’re not investing in anything that doesn’t plug directly into our core stack.”
• “No more shiny things. If your tool doesn’t reduce complexity, we’re not buying.”

What this means for vendors:

Unless you can clearly show interoperability with existing systems (particularly Microsoft, ServiceNow, SAP, and AWS-based environments), you may be ignored, even if your product is technically superior.

🛑 Avoid pitching:

• Standalone tools with overlapping features
• Solutions without mature APIs or proven integrations
• Products that require net-new training or change management for limited gain

One-Size-Fits-All AI Tools Are Facing Skepticism

While enterprise enthusiasm for AI remains strong, generic AI solutions are starting to raise red flags. Leaders now demand AI tools that come with contextual understanding, strong governance, and industry-specific applicability.

What they’re saying:

• “We need AI to be explainable and aligned with our data model, not just fast.”
• “There’s fatigue from AI claims that don’t translate into operational value.”

What this means for vendors:

AI-enabled solutions without clear governance frameworks, user control options, or auditability features are facing increased scrutiny. Even internal AI pilots are being reviewed through legal and compliance lenses before rollout.

🛑 Avoid pitching:

• AI tools without strong model explainability or permission controls
• Productivity boosters that bypass core compliance frameworks
• Generic copilots without domain relevance

Infrastructure Migration Without Optimisation Is a Hard Sell

Many organisations have already completed the bulk of their cloud migrations. What they want now is optimisation, not another wave of “lift and shift” advice or infrastructure bloat.

What they’re saying:

• “We’re in phase two now, less migration, more rationalisation.”
• “We’re not expanding infrastructure unless it’s cleaner and leaner.”

What this means for vendors:

Unless your infrastructure offering focuses on consolidation, visibility, and interoperability, it’s likely to fall flat. CIOs and CTOs want fewer moving parts, not more.

🛑 Avoid pitching:

• Additional hosting services or IaaS offers without cost-efficiency levers
• Tools that add complexity to observability or cost tracking
• Solutions that can’t demonstrate rapid impact on performance or TCO

Security Theatre Is Being Called Out

Cybersecurity remains a top investment priority, but the buying behaviour is changing. Leaders are distancing themselves from what they call “security theatre”, tools that generate alerts but don’t solve root problems.

What they’re saying:

• “If your tool gives us more alerts but no action, it’s shelfware.”
• “We want fewer dashboards, more decisions.”

What this means for vendors:

Security solutions that overwhelm teams with data but provide limited mitigation or automation are falling out of favour. The focus has shifted to platforms that support risk reduction, incident response and automated remediation.

🛑 Avoid pitching:

• SIEM-style tools without built-in action workflows
• New threat intelligence feeds that require additional staffing
• Security tools that don’t integrate with existing incident response stacks

Overpromised Automation Is Creating Backlash

Workforce automation and RPA continue to attract attention, but there’s growing frustration with tools that require constant tweaking or fail to scale across teams.

What they’re saying:

• “We’ve been burned by RPA that breaks every time a form changes.”
• “It’s great in demos, useless in the real world.”

What this means for vendors:

Buyers are shifting away from generic automation tools and toward process-specific, resilient solutions. Flexibility, resilience, and actual ROI matter more than promises of complete automation.

🛑 Avoid pitching:

• Automation tools that need heavy configuration or maintenance
• Solutions with low tolerance for change or exceptions
• Platforms that offer theoretical productivity boosts but no pilot success metrics

Low-Maturity Data Tools Aren’t Making the Cut

While data governance and modernisation are still front and centre, tools that only handle one slice of the data stack, or lack ownership and lineage tracking, are increasingly seen as incomplete.

What they’re saying:

• “We don’t need another dashboard, we need trust in the data.”
• “Tools without lineage are dead on arrival.”

What this means for vendors:

Unless you’re contributing to a governed, auditable, end-to-end data flow, it’s unlikely your product will be prioritised in the near term.

🛑 Avoid pitching:

• Basic visualisation or BI tools with no data governance layer
• Products that duplicate existing capabilities in Microsoft Fabric or Snowflake
• Data solutions that can’t demonstrate ownership, access controls, and audit trails

Buzzword-Driven Sales Pitches Are Being Shut Down

Finally, and most universally, IT leaders expressed fatigue with vendor conversations that are full of buzzwords but light on practical understanding of their business needs.

What they’re saying:

• “If your sales team can’t articulate how your solution fits our risk model, it’s over.”
• “Stop talking about digital transformation like we’re at a keynote.”

What this means for vendors:

Even the strongest tech offering will be rejected if it’s presented with jargon or without grounding in enterprise reality. Sales teams must be fluent in compliance, integration, and measurable outcomes.

🛑 Avoid pitching:

• Slide decks full of generic AI promises
• One-size-fits-all demos
• Messaging that doesn’t acknowledge the complexity of large, federated organisations

Help Us Help You Win Smarter

At a time when IT budgets are tight, scrutiny is high, and innovation must be coupled with security and governance, knowing where not to sell is a competitive edge.

We speak to senior IT leaders from the largest US organisations every week. We know what they’re prioritising, and just as importantly, what they’re pushing off the table.

We want to help you cut through the noise, save your team time, and ensure your outreach lands with prospects who are actually buying.

If you want to meet IT decision-makers who are actively seeking the kinds of solutions you offer, not chasing the latest buzzword, let’s talk. We’ll help you skip the cold pitch and start real conversations where the budget already exists.