Technology and IT Market Research and Strategy Consulting

What is Technology Market Research?

Technology Market Research is an activity that enables companies to identify the technological opportunities and threats that could affect the future growth and survival of their business.

In other words, Technology Research captures and delivers a specific kind of information, insight, and foresight about the competitive environment to make decisions and strategic plans that can produce advantages for your organization.

What is Technology and IT Consulting?

Technology and IT strategy consulting helps businesses align their technology infrastructure and digital capabilities with their overarching business goals. It involves working with clients to formulate strategic plans that govern the use and implementation of technology within their operations.

Consultants in this field assess a company’s current technology setup, identify gaps and areas of opportunity, and develop a comprehensive technology roadmap. This roadmap typically includes recommendations for system integrations, technology upgrades, digital transformations, cybersecurity measures, and adoption of emerging technologies like AI and cloud computing. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the technology strategy not only supports but also accelerates the achievement of business objectives, adapting to the rapidly changing technological landscape and market conditions

SIS International’s approach to Technology and IT Strategy Consulting is client-centric and leverages a forward-thinking methodology. We aim to empower businesses with strategic insights and actionable solutions, tailored to navigate the complex landscape of technology and IT. Here’s an overview of our approach.

• Understanding Client Objectives: Our first step is to gain a deep understanding of our client’s business objectives, current IT infrastructure, and the specific challenges they face in the technology domain. This involves discussions with key stakeholders to identify both short-term and long-term goals.
• In-depth Industry Analysis: Leveraging our expertise in market research, we conduct an extensive analysis of the relevant technology and IT markets. This includes examining emerging trends, technological advancements, competitor strategies, and regulatory environments to provide a comprehensive view of the market landscape.
• Customized Strategy Development: Based on our analysis and the client’s unique needs, we develop a customized IT strategy. This strategy encompasses a wide range of elements including digital transformation, IT infrastructure optimization, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and data management. Our focus is on creating a strategy that not only addresses current needs but also positions the client for future growth and innovation.
• Integration with Business Strategy: We ensure that the IT strategy aligns seamlessly with the overall business strategy. This alignment is crucial for achieving business objectives and driving growth. We consider how technology can enhance operational efficiency, improve customer experiences, and create competitive advantages.
• Roadmap for Implementation: Our approach goes beyond strategy formulation to include the development of a clear and actionable implementation roadmap. This roadmap outlines the steps, timelines, resources, and key performance indicators (KPIs) necessary for effective strategy execution.
• Emphasis on Agility and Scalability: Our strategies are designed to be flexible, allowing businesses to adapt to new technologies and market changes swiftly and effectively.
• Continuous Support and Iteration: We provide ongoing support and advice to our clients throughout the implementation process. Our approach includes regular reviews and adjustments to the strategy as needed, ensuring that it continues to meet the evolving needs of the business and the market.
• Focus on Knowledge Transfer: We emphasize the importance of knowledge transfer, ensuring that our clients and their teams are well-equipped to manage and leverage their new IT systems and strategies. This includes training sessions, documentation, and support materials.

Differences Between Technology and IT Market Research and Technology and IT Strategy Consulting

Technology and IT market research and technology and IT strategy consulting are two distinct disciplines within the tech sector, each playing a crucial role but serving different purposes. Understanding their differences is key for businesses to leverage them effectively.

Technology and IT Market Research

• Focus on Data Collection and Analysis: Market research primarily involves gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data about the technology market. This includes studying market trends, consumer behaviors, competitor strategies, and industry developments.
• Descriptive: It provides a snapshot of the current market scenario. The insights gained are descriptive, offering an understanding of what is happening in the market at a given time.
• Objective and Quantitative: Market research tends to be more objective, relying heavily on quantitative data. It provides statistics, market sizes, share analysis, and demographic information.
• Tool for Informing Decisions: The role of market research is to inform businesses about the market conditions. This information can be used for making informed decisions, but it does not in itself offer strategies or solutions.
• Broad Audience Application: Market research findings are often applicable to a wide range of stakeholders, including investors, product developers, marketers, and business strategists.

Technology and IT Strategy Consulting

• Focus on Providing Solutions and Strategies: Strategy consulting is about applying insights from market research and other sources to develop concrete strategies and solutions for businesses. It’s more about the application of knowledge to meet specific business goals.
• Prescriptive and Future-Oriented: Unlike market research, strategy consulting is prescriptive. Consultants provide recommendations and strategies for future actions, helping businesses to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities.
• Combination of Quantitative and Qualitative Insights: Strategy consulting often combines quantitative data from market research with qualitative insights. This can include expert opinions, industry experience, and an understanding of the client’s unique business context.
• Customized and Client-Specific: The strategies developed in IT consulting are highly customized to the client’s specific needs, challenges, and objectives. It involves a deeper engagement with the client to understand their unique situation.
• Implementation and Change Management: Strategy consulting often extends to assisting clients in implementing recommended strategies and managing the change within their organizations. This can involve project management, training, and ongoing support.

Opportunities and Threats in Technology

To keep abreast of technological opportunities or threats, you need to establish criteria to help decide what items to follow, and how often to monitor them. Here are just a few technologies that are creating opportunities:

The Internet of Things (“IOT”), where devices communicate with one another, is the latest example of a technology that is having broad sweeping changes for both B2C as well as B2B manufacturers and service providers.

• Smart clothing and wearable devices: These can monitor one’s vital health (heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, sleep)
• Sensors and RFID tags: Such tags enable mobile devices to communicate with appliances, security systems, medical care providers and even one’s supply chain.
• The proliferation of “apps”: On computers, smartphones, and other portable devices. Often created with open source code, essentially possible for almost anyone with an idea to create, and available either for free or near free via Apple or Google (Android), these applications are used for business, social activities, gaming, health, finance, travel, dining and a myriad of other major purposes.
• Software (i.e., SaaS) and data storage in the cloud: Reduces or eliminates the need to physically install and update personal or enterprise programs or worry about running out of space to archive files, photos, or videos. Information can be accessed by anyone, from just about anywhere, on the planet.
• VOIP, AI, speech recognition, and language translation programs: They have already begun to enable and expand global communications and e-commerce.
• Drones: These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being used in construction, agriculture, law enforcement and by the military to conduct surveillance where it is safer and faster to do so than with any other resources. Both you and your competition might manufacture or utilize these devices.

Digital Disruption: Opportunities and Threats

• Social media: Yes, that. Who would have thought just a few years ago that X, Instagram, and similar sites could spread news faster and to a larger audience than traditional media, and thereby quickly influence a company’s reputation and success?
• Cybersecurity: How many businesses or government agencies would assign a high probability to the chance that their internal (email, financial) and customer databases could be hacked and put in jeopardy?
• Counterfeiting: Additive manufacturing, aka “3D Printing” makes it possible, and easy, to scan and reproduce nearly any solid object. Your patents may be infringed.

Gathering and Analyzing Technology Intelligence

Some companies set up a dedicated Early Warning System (“EWS”) to detect the beginning of changes that can influence their business or industry. This can be done with internal resources and/or with an external consulting firm.

Often, your customers, sales force, or even suppliers may have insights and foresight into opportunities and threats. It is a good practice to have a mechanism to capture this information regularly, perhaps by setting up an incentivized panel, conducting interviews, or creating a tracking study that periodically surveys these people.

While Technology Market Research is focused primarily on the technology within a product or service, Competitive Intelligence (CI) looks at the current and future business plans and marketing strategies of your competitors.

Competitive intelligence involves gathering, analyzing, and distributing information about products, customers, competitors, and any aspect of the environment that management needs to make more informed strategic decisions.

It is possible to buy your competitors’ products or services. Or have a third party do it for you. In some cases, you can even get a free trial period! The use of reverse engineering is common. Unless there is some fine print prohibiting these activities, this behavior usually will conform to legal and ethical concerns your company has.

Combined with Technology Market Research, CI can help with the early identification of risks, threats and opportunities in your market.

Decision Makers and IT Influencers

The IT Director is one of the traditional decision-makers in the field. Another key decision maker is the Chief Information Officer. Chief Data Officer (CDO) is a growing IT title. The CDO manages all of a firm’s data. He or she also helps to integrate data into the firm’s decision-making process. Another IT title is Data Architect. This person handles designing, deploying, and managing the data architecture of a company. Other decision-makers include the IoT Architect and the Virtual/Augmented Reality Engineer. The Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence Architect is yet another decision-maker.

IT Decision Maker Market Research

We interview IT decision-makers to gauge their reactions to new technology. The interviews are also to gain an understanding of several issues. These interviews give us valuable information on topics such as:

• Purchasing Processes: These are the procedures that deal with IT procurement. These procedures include the setting of requirements and asset acquisition. They also include the execution of contracts. Purchasing processes also deal with the management of vendors and assets. Quality management is also part of purchasing procedures.
• New Product Introductions: This involves the development of new or improved products. Successful organizations understand the importance of employing an NPI process. A business should develop the right product in today’s competitive market. These products also need to come at the right time with the best possible cost.
• Usability Testing: Companies assess the readiness of a website or app for release. They do so by testing it with real users who are part of the target audience. The aim is to know how actual users interact with a website and to make changes based on the results. People will leave your site and check out your competitors unless yours is easy to navigate. Usability testing can benefit even the best web design and development teams. The tests show trouble spots for users and the areas where they’re getting confused and stuck.
• Organizational Needs, Opportunities, and Challenges: Every organization is aiming for excellence. They seek to meet the changing preferences of the customer and to gain a competitive edge. Our Agile strategy focuses on helping organizations to determine their needs and opportunities. It also helps them to find their challenges. The method is more popular than ever. It uses traditional methods such as Focus Groups and Surveys. It also employs newer, more innovative ways to gather information about core customers.

About Technology and IT Market Research and Consulting

We conduct Qualitative Market Research such as Focus Groups and Interviews. This in-depth research aims to understand why people think, feel, behave, and react the way they do. It is an open-ended approach that users can adopt even during the research. This approach enhances the quality of the data, and the insights generated.

We also conduct Quantitative Market Research. We use methods such as Surveys, which help measure Willingness to Pay. Quantitative Research produces statistical data that is reliable. It informs the extent to which many people think about something or behave. It is independent of the researcher, and one should get the same results regardless of who carries out the research. For this reason, researchers see this method as unbiased.

We conduct Strategy Market Research to provide insights into Market Opportunities. Our research also shows Market Size & Entry and Competition. This type of study plays a vital role in analyzing and defining the market. It also helps in the formulation of marketing instrument strategies. It allows for the placement of research on essential topics in a broader framework. These topics include Positioning, Segmentation, and New Product Development.