Industry overview
What is shaping information technology
IT services and technology companies sell to CIOs, IT heads and business leaders through long, multi-stakeholder buying cycles where trust and proof matter.
- Buying committees are getting larger
- Thought leadership and proof points shorten sales cycles
- Win/loss evidence improves bids
Client background
An enterprise IT solutions provider, working in Australia, Japan, Malaysia & Indonesia. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- An enterprise IT solutions provider
- Sector
- Information technology
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Business panel, Quantitative research, Data analytics & dashboards
Client challenge
The company was investing heavily in marketing across Asia-Pacific but had no consistent way to know whether its awareness and consideration were growing in each country, or how it compared with competitors. Regional teams were each running their own small surveys with different questions, so results could not be compared or trusted at headquarters.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: tracking brand awareness among IT decision-makers in Asia-Pacific.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of IT decision-makers.
- Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
- Set up a repeatable measure the client can track over time.
Target audience
The work focused on 1,200 IT decision-makers.
- IT decision-makers1,200
Audiences we typically reach in information technology
CIOs and IT headsBusiness decision-makersProcurement teamsExisting clientsPartners and resellers
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Australia, Japan, Malaysia & Indonesia. Markets: Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
- Australia
- Japan
- Malaysia
- Indonesia
Research methodology
A structured quantitative design, so results could be compared across groups, locations and time.
- 1Brief
- 2Half-yearly online tracker
- 3Dashboard by country
- 4Insight
We designed a tracker with consistent questions and quotas by company size and role, translated into Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia and Malay where needed, and fielded it through verified business panels. Results were shown on a dashboard by country, industry and role. Each wave included the same brand funnel questions, image attributes and recall of recent marketing, so changes could be linked to specific activity. Open-ended responses were coded to capture how decision-makers described each brand in their own words.
Business panelQuantitative researchData analytics & dashboards
Sampling strategy
- IT decision-makers
- 1,200
- Business respondents were screened on role, company size and involvement in the decision before being invited.
- Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
Data collection
- The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
Data quality & validation
- Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
- Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
- Review of open-ended answers
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Interactive dashboard for ongoing tracking
Key findings
- Awareness was strong in Australia but weak in Japan, where the company was rarely considered despite similar spending.
- Country managers began using the dashboard in quarterly planning, and marketing budgets were shifted between countries based on evidence rather than habit.
Country-level tracking showed that one regional strategy did not fit every market.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: country-level tracking showed that one regional strategy did not fit every market.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: awareness was strong in Australia but weak in Japan, where the company was rarely considered despite similar spending.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The company shifted Japanese investment towards partner-led events and localised content, and later waves showed consideration improving.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interactive dashboard
- Continue the routine and review results every period.
- A natural follow-on question: which campaigns generate qualified leads?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.