What is Technographic Data? – How to Collect, Source, and More

What is Technographic Data?

Technographic data is information about a business’s current technology stack. In other words, it’s a comprehensive assessment of the software and technology used by a company at a given time. This includes what the technology is, what it uses for, and when it was acquired.

It’s also similar to psychographic data because both data categories use to calculate customer intent. The difference is, business technographic takes the whole company into account, not just the conduct of one individual employee or decision-maker.

Likewise, it’s not similar to demographics data, which expresses to you a group of people. Technographic data tells you about the same company and its technological assets, not its employees.

How to Collect Technographic Data?

When it comes to collecting technographic data, there are three general methods:

1. Surveys

• The most direct method of collecting technographic data starts at the source – the staff of the target companies.
• Through phone or email surveys, companies attempt to gather information on how technology is adopted, implemented and used to drive B2B efforts.
• Most companies will not respond to cold-call surveys, and many are unwilling to provide specific usage data even through email response templates.
• While this method can give some general usage data, it is often more troublesome than it’s worth.

2. Removal of Websites

• Website extraction tools extract specific information from corporate websites about the applications and services used by companies.
• Although this can produce more accurate results than survey data without the need to call companies, technical expertise is required to ensure that the tools collect and report relevant data.
• Additionally, security controls on websites may limit the type and amount of data that can manage, and the information available may be out of date.

3. Third-Party Purchases

• The easiest way to get technographic data is to buy it from a trusted data collection provider.
• Thanks to the rapid adoption of cloud-based SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS solutions, service providers and data analytics companies now have access to much more robust.
• And reliable sets of technographic data that the parties can acquire.
• While there are some limits on this data collection, personal data must be kept anonymous to ensure compliance with local and global privacy legislation.
• Companies can access massive amounts of usable technographic data with a third-party provider. Suitable.
• However, it is worth bearing in mind that not all providers are created equal.
• Some promise massive data sets but cannot deliver, while others cannot provide real-time information.

What are the Sources of Technographic Data?

1. B2B technographic data’s primary sources tend to resources provided by the company itself, though they’re not always easy to access.
2. Examples comprise the company website’s source code, company social media posts, and information through reports or discovered via phone calls.
3. These insights then comply with a B2B database.
4. Different collection methods use depending on the source and the quality of technographic data trends to link to how it collects.
5. In general, you’ll want to safeguard you’re working with technographic companies and B2B database breadwinners, which use a range of sources and collection methods.

Why Technographic Data Matters?

Technographic data alone provides a window into the use of company technology. Meanwhile, combined with targeted sales and marketing efforts, this information offers a way to improve conversion results significantly.

The four actionable benefits of technographic data include:

1. Improved Segmentation

• With accurate data on technology use and implementation within lead organizations.
• Companies can better define granular customer segments based on current needs and ongoing priorities to use sales resources effectively.

2. Enhanced Specificity

• Sales lead often inundated with proposals for new technologies and services.
• It enables sales teams to discuss specific issues potential customers are facing and quickly capture their interest.

3. Higher Prioritization

• Not all potential customers have the same potential value to businesses.
• But distinguishing the priority of potential customers is difficult, especially in an increasingly competitive technology market.
• Technographic data can help companies quickly assess which potential customers are most likely to invest in new solutions and which ones need more time.

4. Short Lead Time

• Speaking of time, news announcements about new technology solutions, mergers, acquisitions, or product launches offer starting points for successful sales discussions.
• But only if teams are equipped with relevant technographic data to help connect the dots between releases—Press and customer need.

What are the Challenges with Technographic Data?

1. When it originates to technographic, the main challenges are discovering when and how technology is being used and ensuring it is up to date.
2. Additionally, it can be an additional challenge to ensure gage in specific markets and areas, especially when the information may outdate or unavailable.
3. The providers of technographic data essential to be efficient enough to recognize apparent traces of software that the business uses every day.
4. In some cases, however, the company no longer uses the software that the collection of technographic data classifies.
5. For technographic data providers, real-time information about technology stacks and examining a company’s software and hardware are critical.
6. The engagement patterns of customers, including their duration and time of engagement, are shifting, owing to frequent technological developments.
7. This aspect presents a challenge in gathering real-time insights about the engagement patterns and preferences of the customers.
8. Finally, even if there is up-to-date data that shows exactly what the technologies use for and when they acquire, there’s, unfortunately.
9. No guarantee that this information is available on a large enough scale in some cases.
10. So there’s all the more reason to check that your data provider offers data on the correct scale for you.

Conclusion

Technographics is an acronym for the words “technology” and “demographics” and refers to information that describes the use of technology solutions, their adoption rates, and the potential challenges they present for organizations.