I recently reviewed the results of the 2010 Gartner Executive Programs (EXP) survey of CIOs who influence $126bn of IT spending in 41 countries and 27 industries. Besides the headline that IT budgets in 2010 will be at 2005 levels, there are some interesting changes and trends that B2B IT and business software vendors and marketers should consider.
Enterprise applications (ERP, CRM and others) is not a Top 10 business or technology priority in 2010 – this is a startling finding and dramatic change from previous years. Enterprise applications were the #2 technology priority since 2007.
After being the #1 technology priority since 2006, business intelligence applications have dropped to #5.
Business process improvement continues to be the #1 business priority – this has been the #1 CIO business priority every year on this survey since 2006 (the earliest edition of this survey I could find).
Virtualization, cloud computing and Web 2.0 are the top 3 technology priorities in 2010 – while this may not be a big surprise to most people in the industry, it is the first time any of these technologies have appeared in this Top 10 survey.
So this got me thinking about the relevance of these surveys for influencing product, marketing and sales strategies:
- Are vendor marketers paying attention? Given that ‘business process improvement’ is the #1 business priority for CIOs since 2006, one would expect this to have some prominence for relevant vendor marketers. Looking through the websites, collateral and marketing campaigns for several business software vendors, there’s scant direct attention to the business process improvement value proposition. While it is mentioned within other propositions and contexts, it doesn’t have the headline attention or prominence for vendors that one would expect for the #1 business priority of potential buyers.
- Should vendor marketers pay attention? Considering the scope of this survey and the influence of the respondents on buying decisions, it would seem logical that marketing and selling to these priorities would yield better results. Although the reality for actual buyers that transpires during the forecast period may not exactly match what they indicated in a particular survey, the priorities and trends in surveys provide good directional information for connecting with buyers relative to their top-of-mind interests.
- Which survey(s) do you pay attention to? While this is a good survey from a reputable source, it is just one of dozens or possibly hundreds of good surveys from many reputable sources published each year. Relevance to your markets and industry are obviously critical. Aggregating results across multiple relevant surveys may provide a more balanced perspective.
How do you use surveys to shape your marketing strategy, campaigns and programs? Have you seen beneficial results from paying attention to these surveys? Your comments are always welcome.
Copyright © 2010 The Marketing Mélange and Ingistics LLC. http://marketing.infocat.com
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I am fortunate to have worked in a number of roles in marketing and other areas of businesses. I have done, run and led marketing. I have worked in other functions that are impacted by marketing.
I'm a keen observer on how marketing is positioned and perceived within companies and what is expected in return for the marketing budget. The Internet, Web and technology innovations continue to change and
expand marketing approaches and possibilities. Hopefully this blog will in some small way contribute to making marketing more effective for all areas.
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