Technographic Data

What is technographic data?

Technographic data (also referred to as technographic segmentation) is the analysis of the technology stack a company uses, including hardware, software, and applications. This data also may include information about when the companies purchased their specific technologies (tools and applications).

Companies use this data for market segmentation to identify target markets and target companies/target accounts, to enrich their customer profiles for various marketing campaigns, to generate B2B leads, lead scoring, and to increase customer engagement and conversion rates. Technographic data also helps to detect trends and identify potential new markets and prospective customers. 

Where does the data come from?

A common method to collect technographic data is through surveys. Private companies, tool providers (such as SaaS companies), analysts, and others regularly conduct surveys to gather information related to the use of tech stacks and technological solutions across industries.

The other reliable source is information scraped from the web. As web scraping evolves, surveys are getting pushed to the second position. Many data vendors use web crawlers and sophisticated analysis programs to deliver more accurate data.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) and other advanced semantic programs help analyze unstructured data that makes the majority of web-based information. Online news reports, published company reports, as well as information available on public and social media are used for this purpose.

With more tools available for gathering and analyzing data scraped from the web, vendors can provide much richer technographic information.   

What types of attributes should I expect?

The general attributes available for technographic data include technology listing by application types, such as CRM (for example Salesforce or HubSpot), data management tools, marketing automation/martech tools (such as Marketo Engage), domain names, and web analytics tools. It can also have more attributes such as the purchase date of tools and applications, the amount each company spends on technology, NAICS codes of companies, and their funding, and potentially even competitor’s products. 

How should I test the quality of the data?

The dataset needs to match your requirements, as it can power a variety of analytics. Based on your proposed use, make sure that the data points are accurate, and frequently updated to ensure recency. Data derived from web scraping or web crawling is often better than data collected in surveys. The derived information tends to be more accurate and more reliable.

To test the quality of the data:

• Check if the data provider data meets your requirements.
• Validate that the data is recently updated and complete.
• Verify that the data is accurate and can be trusted to drive your analysis.

Comparing the range and attributes of technographic data from different vendors helps to evaluate the options. Working with a small data sample for test analysis can provide a better understanding of the data quality.

Who uses technographic data?

This type of data is often used for generating B2B leads, driving B2B sales, prioritizing target audiences, creating ideal customer profiles, and understanding the total addressable market. Marketing teams use this data to plan their marketing strategy and inbound marketing campaigns. Sales teams and sales reps leverage this data to personalize their outreach campaigns, offerings, upsell efforts, and it can even help build lead lists for cold calling. 

Companies also use this data for competitor analysis, market share analysis, and industry trends. Knowledge about the range and preferences of technology tools can fuel new ideas for product development, can provide a better understanding of the customer journey, and can support customer success. 

Technographic data can augment firmographic data and other types of company data to profile companies.   

What are the common challenges when buying technographic data?

Technographic data indicates the types of technology and tools companies use. If this data is obsolete, your analysis and the subsequent actionable insights will be unreliable. You need to ensure that the data is recently updated and trustworthy.

• Source credibility: Your prospective vendors can use surveys or web-scraped data. Ensuring the credibility of their sources is critical for data quality. 
• Compliance: Technographic data may contain sensitive information, and it essentially needs to comply with the most recent data privacy regulations. These regulations vary according to regions, such as GDPR and CCPA, and the vendor data must comply with all.
• Data timeliness and consistency: Vendors must incorporate the most recent information available on the web, including information from the public and social media.  Information collected from various sources must be consistent for accurate analytics and trusted insights.

What are similar data types?

You can use this type of data data with firmographic data and industry NAICS classifier data for B2B lead generation. 

You can find a variety of examples of B2B data, intent data, and other company data in the Explorium Data Gallery

Sign-up for Explorium’s free-trial to access the data available on the platform.     

What are the most common use cases?

The most common use cases are in sales and marketing. Often companies buy this data to enrich B2B customer profiles and power their analytics and business intelligence.

Technographic data is also used in network security and cybersecurity use cases.

• Installed-base intelligence: Technographic data provides information about the installed hardware, software, and applications. Installed-base intelligence can uncover growth opportunities through renewal and technology updates.
• Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Also called Key Account Marketing, ABM is a strategy to target specific high-value accounts. ABM needs rich B2B data to generate a deep knowledge about potential accounts.   Technographic data provides the technological profile of the companies for personalizing sales campaigns. 
• Account Scoring: Identifying the most promising accounts needs richer customer profiles. Account scoring models rank the profiles by scoring perceived value and conversion potential. Technographic data augments other B2B data to provide more accurate scores. You can focus your sales efforts on high-ranking accounts to get the best ROI.
• Network Access Control System: These systems protect network data through user authentication, addressing possible security breaches. Technographic data provides a technological profile of companies, helping plan for such systems.
• Network Segmentation: This is a process of dividing a network into separate segments, either physically or technologically, to limit access to specific users. Technographic data provides the necessary information for planning the segmentation.
• Cybersecurity Posture: The cybersecurity posture consists of the procedures, policies, and services that a company designs to defend against cyberattacks. Companies use technographic data to evaluate their security risk, develop policies, design procedures, and assess the defense for their most vulnerable assets. 

Venture capitalists and investors also use this data to identify potential investment opportunities in their preferred technographic segments. 

Which industries commonly use this type of data?

It is used by diverse industries for B2B marketing and sales. The industries that commonly use this type of data include technology companies, manufacturing and hi-tech companies, as well as banks, insurance, and financial services companies.

How can you judge the quality of your vendors?

Judging the quality of your vendors requires careful analysis of the data they offer. Interaction with their reps or recommendations from their customers also help.

• Case studies: Vendor websites often contain case studies to demonstrate successful projects using their data. These case studies indicate how the vendors engage with their customers and how they help solve the challenges. 
• Customer reviews: Check if the vendor website provides reviews and testimonials from their valued customers. Based on the reviews, you can assess if the vendor will be able to meet your requirements and deliver high-quality data.
• Demo: Many vendors offer a test run or a demo to prove the quality of their data. You can use the demo to evaluate the data quality and attributes.