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Taking a Deeper Look at Today’s

Empowered Tech Buying Process

Beneath the Surface

Peter Hubert Head of Insights, APAC

Not so very long ago, when it came to

technology purchases, IT was at the

helm, but seemingly everything about

the tech market is changing rapidly,

particularly the target audience.

How are you to keep up?

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2.3+ million APAC LinkedIn members who influence IT

decisions across departments and seniorities

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We surveyed 3,800+ technology decision-makers globally

So, what’s beneath the technology purchasing surface?

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Hardware for End Users Hardware for Data Centers Software for Data Centers Software for End Users

We looked at 4 key technology subverticals.

The decision making process journey

The key influencers on the process

The areas of interest and motivation

The content they want, when and where

they’re looking for it…

To bring a depth of understanding to…

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Complication #1:

The buying process

is competitive and long.

Complication #2:

Technology buying touches all

aspects of business.

Complication #3:

The buying group each have

their own agenda.

What we learned: It’s complicated.

Complication #1: The buying process is long, complex and competitive.

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40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Needs Specs/Funding Vendor Choice Implementation Management Renewal

Hardware for End Users

Software for End Users

Hardware for Data Centers

Software for Data Centers

Engaged Directly with Vendors – Last 3 Months

(% among buyers recently participating in each stage)

Engagement is constant throughout the long journey…

Bases: Technology decision participants (last 3 months) in 11+ person companies across 11 major markets in each market who recently participated in each stage

Hardware for End Users n=140-173, Software for End Users n=163-199, Data Center Hardware n=142-162, Data Center Software n=132-167

12 months+

27% 25%

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It’s more competitive than ever, but opportunities do exist.

Most Competitive Most Open

Hardware for End Users Software for Data Centers Hardware for Data Centers Software for End Users

Technology buying ranges from extremely to very competitive

(% who shortlisted a “new” vendor)

21% 42%

Complication #2: Technology buying touches all aspects of business.

45%

52%

59%

51%

62%

50%

Needs Specs/Funding Vendor Choice Implementation Management Renewal

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4+ functions

(% among buyers participating in each stage)

4+ functional groups can be involved at each stage.

IT, Engineering and Operations are the visible players…

Engineering Operations

IT

Business Development

Purchasing

Support

Sales

Finance

Project Management

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Hardware for End Users Hardware for Data Centers Software for Data Centers Software for End Users

…but the full committee is a complex group

* Each function’s’ importance was ranked across four measures: 1) perceived leadership in six stages of buying; 2) likelihood of being cross-functional partner to a leading role; 3) propensity to be a formal decision maker; and 4) perceived influence

on vendor opinion among those involved in Vendor Choice. Gartner source: http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt%3Fopen%3D512%26objID%3D202%26mode%3D2%26PageID%3D5553%26ref%3Dwebinar-rss%26resId%3D1871515

IT

Engineering

Operations

Prog. and Proj. Mngmnt

Finance

Bus. Development

Support

Accounting

Marketing

Purchasing

Sales

Research

Consulting/Ext. Consultant

Extremely Important 1 Very Important/ Important 2 Importance to the decision process*

1 1 1 1

1 1 1 1

1 1 1 2

1 2 2 2

2 2 1 2

2 2 2 2

2 2 2 2

2

2

2

2

2

2

Complication #3: The buying group each have their own agenda.

What motivates this diverse group of decision-makers?

Proj. Mgmt. Finance Accounting

Top Factors Driving Willingness to Engage

IT Engineering Bus. Dev. Operations Purchasing Sales Support

Bases: N=32-598, recent technology buyers (last 3 months) in key functions

In general, how important are the following factors in your willingness to engage with sales professionals and other employees of [technology type] vendors? 15

Subject Matter Expertise

Consultation/Education/Tools

Business Model

Costs/Business Impact

User Adoption

Know/Trust Product /Service

Tier 1 audiences Tier 2 audiences

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Top reasons vendors make the short list

(% among those considering “new” vendors)

Base: n=122 Base: n=107 Base: n=86 Base: n=148

Bases: Technology decision process participants (last 3 months) in 11+ person companies across 11 major markets who shortlisted a company that is “new” (i.e., their company never worked with it)

Hardware for End Users

Cost-Price-Terms

Quality-Product

Reputation-Reviews

Support-Service

Hardware for Data Centers

Cost-Price-Terms

Subject Matter Expert-

Consult.

Quality-Reliability

References-Trust

Software for Data Centers

Subject Matter Expert-

Consult.

Features-Functionality

Cost-Price-Terms

Ease of Doing Business

Software for End Users

Fit Requirements

Materials-Case Study-POC*

Ease of Doing Business

User Experience

So what does the Tech

Purchasing Decision

Making Process Look

Like on LinkedIn?

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Meet Amanda Ong

• Amanda is part of the decision

making process for Data Centre Software

• She is an Information Technology Manager working in an Enterprise

size High Tech Company

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A bit about Amanda…

• 15 years in industry covering

engineering, operations and

information technology

Project Management

Skills Edu

Business Analysis

Integration

B. Science

Considering MBA

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Amanda is using LinkedIn

to connect with experts and

engage with relevant

content

Website page views

3X

Company Follows

2X

36% more

Content over jobs

7X

Mobile vs. Desktop Connected on LinkedIn

3X

What is Amanda doing on LinkedIn?

Influencer Follows

4X

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When is she seeking out content and for what needs?

Amanda consumes 2 to 4

distinct pieces of content at

each stage of the buying

cycle 7 7

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7

16

7

Needs Specs VendorSelection

Implementing Managing Renewing

Hours spent researching at each stage – Last 3

Months

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What sort of content is she looking for on LinkedIn?

She is actively seeking

content to become a better

informed decision maker

Cloud

Computing

DB2

XML

Information

Security

IT Service

Mgmt

Mobile

Computing

Scalability

Test

Automation

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What else is she seeing on LinkedIn?

Amanda is a popular profile

Industries sponsoring content to profiles

like Amanda’s in last 6 months

Growth in number of companies

targeting profiles like Amanda’s in last

6 months alone

Computer Software

Financial Services

Higher Education

100+

28%

Top 3

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So what does this all mean?

Using the information she

finds on LinkedIn, Amanda

is evaluating her options,

taking action and forming

her short list

1 Subject Matter Expert-

Consultation

Top reason data centre software vendors make the

short list:

2 Features-Functionality

3 Cost-Price-Terms

4 Ease of Doing Business

Now we know: The journey

The players

The areas of interest and motivation

The content they want, when and where

they’re looking for it…

Put down your bearings: A strategy for open water

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Conquering complexity

Know your audience

Let us empower your

strategic planning.

Relevance is critical, call

on us for audience insights

(who, what, how)

Take action

Gain admin rights to your

company page and assess

your content needs and

resources such that you can

deliver value now

Engage with relevance

Build a content calendar for

various personas, and at each

stage of the sales cycle

Thank you