Confronting Change

There’s no question the data technology industry has experienced dramatic changes over the past decade, driven largely by the emergence of the cloud. Anticipating the need to adapt to this new reality, a steadfast leader in the data space began searching for a research partner who could help them better understand the dynamics of its evolving B2B customer base, and the best way to respond.

Beyond research expertise, this partner needed to speak the highly technical language of the respondents they were talking to with authority and authenticity. With in-the-trenches experience as programmers, systems analysts, and software engineers, Thinkpiece’s technology research team fit the bill. Brought in to moderate our first group over seven years ago, we’ve been partnering with this client on multiple projects covering a broad range of mission-critical topics ever since.

Asking the Right Questions

Our technology research team was able to find respondents with the relevant level of technical expertise for each study and jump in head-first not just to moderate, but to conduct peer-to-peer conversations with respondents — many of whom were developers. By asking the right questions and steering the discussion in a productive direction, we were able to equip our direct client with the reports they needed to make a compelling case for change to internal stakeholders.

Our technical expertise also infused the research with a level of credibility, which in turn helped our direct client and his team capture the confidence of their stakeholders. Reassured that we understand the technology as well as the human dynamics, our direct client trusts our work and insights.

“Thinkpiece has the rare trifecta of what we look for in a research partner,” says the company’s Director of B2B Market Insights, who has worked with the Thinkpiece team since the first project over seven years ago. “They have their feet in each world: research, technology, and B2B — plus they know how to present their findings in a visually compelling way.”

Actionable Insight

Over the course of our multi-year research partnership, we’ve helped arm the client with tools they continue to employ to make informed decisions and move forward. Working closely with our direct client, we built on the research to develop robust audience personas that revealed the real motivations driving their customer base, as well as the differences between their various audience segments and roles. This insight helped the client shift toward more tailored and targeted messaging.

The client continues to use Thinkpiece reports and audience personas to train hundreds of salespeople to more effectively capture opportunities in emerging and adjacent technology spaces, most recently including AI. The research has additionally been shared with key strategic partners, including creative and marketing agencies, to guide them in better positioning the company.

“The work we’ve done with Thinkpiece goes beyond the typical customer journey,” explains the Director of B2B Market Insights. “We’ve used their insights and reports to come up with new decision path frameworks, to learn and grow new muscles.”

Knowing Which Way to Pivot

The insight Thinkpiece and the client gleaned over seven years of collaborative research has been instrumental in helping the company pivot and adapt to an increasingly cloud-dominant technology climate. The research we’ve done with the client has also played a role in helping align the company’s marketing, sales, and business development teams in a shared understanding of who their customers really are, what’s most important to them, and how to break through to them.

“We’ve come to trust Thinkpiece as an extension of our team,” says the Director of B2B Market Insights. “The work they’ve done has helped equip us to have those intellectually honest and often sensitive conversations about our need to do things differently and where we need to go as a company. We bring in Thinkpiece for our biggest, most strategic questions we’re tasked with answering, and plan to keep doing so.”

Learn more about Thinkpiece’s technology research approach here.