Introduction to the TMT B2B industry 

The TMT sector can be loosely defined as every company focused on the usage of new and upcoming technologies.  The TMT B2B sector is also sometimes referred to as the technology, media, and communications sector. This space includes a lot of companies that depend heavily on research and development costs. As a result, this sector is attractive to investors who are looking for high-growth opportunities. There are many different types of categories that exist in this space, including software, hardware, and media companies.  For instance, some of the major software companies include Microsoft and Adobe. In the realm of hardware, IBM and Dell are top players. Prominent media companies include A&T and Vodafone. 

A TMT B2B survey is then useful to gather insights on what is happening in this space. Essentially, a TMT b2b survey is useful to gather information from decision-makers in the TMT space. What do we mean by decision-makers? There’s no fixed answer to this question. A TMT decision-maker can be anyone who works in the industry and has control over some of its processes. For example, if a mobile company is looking to project growth over the next 5 years, it needs access to real-time information from industry leaders. A b2b survey exists to serve precisely this aspect. The TMT sector can be a complex one to navigate, with lots of granularities. For instance, consider that a TV network provider is trying to determine which marketing channels are the best to advertise on. In this case, the company can consider launching a b2b survey. The survey will give them insights into the cost of each marketing channel, the number of players that use that channel, and so on. 

EY conducted a TMT b2b market research project, surveying 200 enterprises in the UK, in November 2018. The research (first in a series of findings)  looked into the enterprise attitudes towards TMT service providers. The report explores how TMT providers could capitalise on the then emerging trends of 5G and IOT. Learn more about the report here. 

Wondering how to gather actionable insights through a TMT B2B survey

If you’re wondering how you can extract precise data from individuals who are directly connected to the TMT industry, you’ve come to the right place. At GrapeData, we specialise in conducting b2b market research surveys, with a focus on niche populations of decision makers. If you’d like to know more, please visit our contact us page. 

Let’s break down the steps to gather precise information about the TMT industry in the following section:

1. Finding B2B respondents for your TMT research project 

Arguably, the biggest challenge in a b2b market research study is finding respondents for it. There are several reasons why this is the case. First, B2B companies tend to target harder-to-reach audiences than B2C companies. So, naturally, the pool of respondents becomes harder to locate. Second, the B2C buying journey looks a lot different than the B2B one. In B2C, there’s only the end consumer making the purchase decision. Whereas, in a B2B sales decision, the chain typically involves 5-7 respondents. Third, b2b products tend to be more complex than b2c ones. For instance, looking at the TMT industry, the products and services offered by hardware, software, and media companies are going to be a lot more complex than selling a shampoo for instance. 

There are some strategies that you can deploy to gather respondents for a TMT b2b survey.

One is to find decision-makers and industry leaders on social media, online forums, and trade conferences. For instance, TMT industry leaders can be found on LinkedIn. The titles of these decision-makers may look like the following:

1. Chief Information or Technology Office
2. Director of Information Technology or communications
3. Product Owner
4. Heads of Media and Communications, etc

Another way to find TMT b2b respondents is to increase the reward offered to B2B participants. Typically, b2b respondents are harder to locate and thus incentivised more for their participation in research projects. Depending on their industry level or seniority, it may be a good idea to reward them differently. Learn more about How to Incentivise Knowledgeable B2B respondents in our recent blog post. 

2. Gathering responses for your TMT B2B survey

Once you've decided on the goal of your TMT B2B survey project, it's now time to gather responses for your survey. Collecting responses can be time-consuming for several reasons. Let's look at some of them in detail. One reason could be that finding respondents in the TMT industry who fit your profile takes a lot of effort and time. Another reason is that once you've designed and programmed your survey requirements, they may not be easily understood by respondents. Thus, you should ensure that you have sufficient time in order to collect responses for your b2b survey. Some tips to effectively gather responses for your TMT b2b survey are the following:

1. Design your survey logic in such a way that it's easy to follow 
2. Conduct thorough profile checks on your respondents to make sure that they fit your profile
3. Partner with a survey research specialist to find niche b2b survey respondents efficiently

A survey research specialist acts as a bridge between the company that's conducting b2b research and survey respondents. Having a contributor base consisting of vetted survey respondents, a survey research specialist can easily find the correct profiles for research needs. 

3. Analysing data from your TMT B2B survey

The final step for b2b market researchers is to analyse the data effectively. After all the responses have been collected, companies must analyse the data, draw inferences and present the findings. The type of analysis depends on the nature of the research project. For quantitative answers, b2b market researchers can use a variety of software including Excel and SPSS. On the other hand, if the survey research was qualitative in nature, then researchers can analyse transcripts and recordings to draw meaningful conclusions.  Once the data is analysed, it is then presented in the form of a report. However, it's important to note that researchers must present this data ethically. 

Conclusion

We hope that this post has been helpful if you were thinking about launching a TMT b2b survey. To sum up, TMT b2b market research is the process of gathering knowledgeable insights from key stakeholders working in the industry. There are certain challenges that TMT b2b market researchers are faced with. Some of these include finding the right set of respondents for their project and correctly incentivising them. However, these challenges can be minimised by adopting certain strategies such as partnering with a survey research specialist. This is because the specialist will have experience in finding vetted b2 respondents in the TMT industry. Therefore, the company in need of data can leverage the resources and capabilities of a survey specialist. If you'd like to know how we can help with your TMT project, drop us a line at sales@grape-data.com.