Peter Drucker, a popular management thinker, said, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” We’ll spin this to infer; you can’t provide what you can’t measure. Therefore, if your business is going to manage effective service delivery to other businesses, you should be able to measure their technological stack.

World businesses are now largely powered by technology. Hence, it’s become imperative to understand what technology your potential client is using. As a business, data is now than lifeblood. Data is of the same importance as operating cash. When dealing with other businesses, one of such data your business needs to measure effectively is technographic data.

WHAT IS TECHNOGRAPHIC DATA?

Technographics understands a company’s (your potential client) reality by analyzing the technology powering their operations. Technographic data from the analyses give insight into details like; the hardware or software powering the company, their marketing automation tools, customer relationship management, etc.

In the world of B2B marketing, technographic data is fast becoming a compulsory insight base to possess. The reasons for this evolution of marketing needs are simple.

Firstly, technographic data helps improve the segmentation of potential customers. The data gives insight into how the company uses technology. In addition, creating the respective segments for your potential clientele helps you identify priorities and effective ways to reach different types of business. Overall, segmented marketing improves the efficiency of the sales team.

It’s important to note that technographic data is different from demographic and firmographic data. However, these other types of data are equally important and help analyze businesses. It’s safe to say that combining these data types leads to a robust database of insight on your potential clients. Hence, better decision-making.

Technographic data has not attained the popularity of the other two data types. However,

forward-thinking companies are tapping into and leveraging the rewards of it. Your business should be too.

HOW TO COLLECT TECHNOGRAPHICS

Collecting technographic data is easy, as there are different approaches to the collection. As a company, it’s important to choose which data collection method works best. Thanks to the importance of technographic data, conducting an a/b test is worth it till you find the one most beneficial to your company.

Surveys

Surveys are direct, no beating about the bush. The use of surveys involves you (and your sales team) going directly to the source of information – the staff of your target company. You can survey through phone or emails. Targeting current staff gives you real-time insight into the state of technology in the company.

Your survey should revolve around collecting information on how the company uses technology. First, however, you should be ready to have your emails unopened. Some companies ignore cold emails. Other companies are also wary of giving specific information to third-party entities.

Website Scraping

Scraping involves the extraction of information from the company’s public website. Website scraping is an indirect data collection method. Hence, it’s prone to inaccuracies. Also, technical expertise is required, which you may have to pay for. Some company’s website also has security that prevents such activities. Thus, the odds of success here are limited.

Third-party purchase

Some companies like Coresignal exclusively deal in the sales of B2B data; you can buy from them. Technographic data purchase saves you time and effort. It’s also effective, as the vendor has the hard work required to get accurate data.

TECHNOGRAPHIC EXAMPLES

The core elements of technographic data culminate to give you robust insight into a company’s tech stack. Here are the main technographic examples your company should aim to collect.

Technology Being Used

Technology is a broad scope; IT, IoT, Software, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, etc. It would help if you also got insight on the hardware usage; laptops, monitors, etc. By paying much attention to details, you’ll also get design software information.

How they Use Technology

Companies use technology differently. Hence, it’s vital to get into the specific details of how your potential client uses the technology they have in their daily operation. If you aim to be a part of their business process one day, your technographic data must cover these details.

When the Company Acquired these Technologies

The time of technology acquisition gives insight into how innovative and cutting-edge a company is. When the technologies are old, you’ll figure it’s a company not so bullish on change and innovation. Understanding a company’s stance on technology adoption will inform your approach in dealing with them.

When you understand these technographic examples, you understand what the company can afford, what they’ll spend on, how technical their operations are, and how willing they are to adopt new technology.

Having this data then helps you carry out potential market technographics segmentation. Technographic data gives a bedrock of information on the client, which you can leverage in future dealings if you get to work with them.

CONCLUSION

Technographic data is only just becoming popular. However, when used right, technographic examples can contribute immensely to your company’s growth and increased market share.

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