Technographics Data: Definition, Uses, Collection, Benefits, Challenges and Providers

What is Technographic Data?

Technographic data is information related to a certain company or organization regarding the technologies they use in terms of software, hardware, or operational tools for their processes. This data helps individuals and businesses who want to target that company as a prospect, run marketing campaigns, or for competitor analysis.

It allows businesses to understand the ways a company implements tech stack, CRMs, project management tools, automation software, servers, devices, tech infrastructure, tech advancements, and their buying intent based on that data. This helps marketing and sales teams improve their targeting or sales pipeline while segregating clients based on their requirements. Moreover, it gives better insights into market and competitor analysis.

What are the uses of Technographic Data?

The uses of techno graphic data are targeted marketing, sales pipeline, account-based marketing, competitor analysis, industry expansion, client communication, product development, client retention, and value-adding partnerships.

Some of the main uses of techno graphic data are listed below:

• Targeted marketing: The technical information and buying intent of a company helps marketers to plan a comprehensive campaign to target them. For example, if a company has a use case for a mobile app but doesn’t have one or it’s outdated, a marketing campaign for them can highlight how an updated mobile app can benefit their business operations.
• Sales pipeline: Technical data and requirements help sales teams to identify important leads rather than wasting time on ones that are not relevant as per the data. They can offer a precise solution to prospects based on what their technical infrastructure lacks.
• Account-based marketing: Reliable technographic data helps you to identify potential accounts with high buyer intent and need for the services you are offering regarding their tech stack. With the relevant information, you can approach them with a personalized approach knowing their pain points and a way to address them using your offering.
• Competitor analysis: Technographic data helps to identify industry trends and competitor process insights. It can give you better insights into their ideal customer profile and the ways they are using to approach them while catering to their needs. The analysis helps to form growth strategies in terms of prospecting, closing, and customer retention.
• Industry expansion: Technographic data helps to identify the industries where your solutions have a use case or they use similar solutions but it’s unexplored for you. For example, if you are providing software solutions to the healthcare industry, you can find out if other industries like banking or real estate are using similar technologies and then you can plan an approach to target them for your services.
• Client communication: Technographic data helps you to be prepared for a meeting with the prospect or a client regarding their requirements and pain points. The meeting will not be well-oriented for the client if you’re not talking about the problem they are facing and a solution you can offer to prevent it. With the right info, you can engage the clients with the requirements hook.
• Product development: Technographic data helps to identify the demand scale regarding a certain product or service. For example, if you see a high demand in companies using CRM like Trello or Click Up for project management, you can develop an innovative tool like that, adding better value considering the common pain points of companies and launching it with confidence.
• Client retention: When you are already offering services to an existing client, the technographic data related to their tech stack can help you identify areas where you can add improvement using upgrades and more value-adding solutions. The ongoing value-oriented approaches and solutions help to retain customers and even bring back the old ones.
• Value-adding partnerships: Technographic data related to a company or industry helps you identify new partnership opportunities that can add mutual value. For example, if you are offering identity verification solutions, and you see a software development company that has customers who might require your identity verification solutions, you can both work together to provide mutually beneficial services to your clients.

What are the methods to Collect Technographic Data?

The methods to collect techno graphic data are surveys, public data scraping, third-party sources, tech detectors, and collaborations.

Some of the main methods of technographic data collection are listed below:

Survey

Surveys are a direct way of collecting technographic data from companies by directly asking them about their technologies by using emails, phone calls, or online forms. It helps to gather updated data and provides more qualitative details along with technical requirements. However, prospects are not always ready to share their process details and the data might be incomplete sometimes.

Public data scraping

Public data scraping is the way of gathering technical information about a company by checking the information they have listed online or any data that is available about their technologies on forums. It is a reliable source of getting the exact data, however, companies usually choose to publicize only a segment of their technical infrastructure rather than the whole details about it.

Third-party sources

Online platforms like Bookyourdata, BuiltWith or Similar Tech offer paid insights and data about other companies. While it can be a bit expensive, the platforms offer vast, updated, and reliable data based on extensive research. If you’re choosing a third-party service, make sure to check their data collection methods and outcomes.

Tech detectors

You can choose tech detectors like Wappalyzer which scans websites to detect the technologies that have been used to build the provided platform. It helps to automate the data collection and detection processes. However, it might not be able to detect the underlying or hidden technologies that are part of the platform.

Collaborations

You can collaborate with companies that deal with your prospect to get insights about their tech stack and offer them a set of commissions based on mutual understanding. This helps to create meaningful partnerships. However, the process can be complicated with the involvement of agreements and corporations.

What are the benefits of technographic data?

The benefits of techno graphic data are personalized outreach, effective account-based marketing, high-quality leads, detailed competitor insights, higher retention rates, meaningful partnerships, and beneficial product launches.

Some of the main tech benefits of technographic data are listed below:

Personalized outreach

Technographic data helps you to reach a prospect with precision and personalization based on their requirements. You do not have to fight in the air with assumptions rather offer a legit solution to your prospect's pain points. For example, when you know a prospect is using outdated technology, you can reach out to them with updated solutions that can benefit their company.

Effective account-based marketing

Technical information about a company helps you with better identification of high-value accounts that you should be prioritizing while running marketing campaigns. For example, you can run AI integration ads for companies who are using Web or mobile apps for their services and operations.

High-quality leads

Technographic data helps you to identify the prospects with high buyer intent with need for your solution so you can focus on high-quality leads rather than wasting time on prospects who do not require your services. You can set criteria for lead qualification like consideration of a certain tech integration or usage to qualify them as a high-quality date.

Detailed competitor insights

Technographic data helps to identify the advancement or the gaps within your competitor's operations. You can use this data to reach their clients or prospects and highlight the key areas you offer better value in contrast to your competitor.

Higher retention rates 

Technographic data helps to offer existing customers upgraded and advanced solutions that keep their interests alive. You can take advantage of this data to help them identify areas where further advancement can be made if you’re offering web development services to a company, you can suggest advanced features that can enhance it.

Meaningful partnerships

Technographic data helps to find companies you can partner with to offer mutual benefits to a certain client. You can find areas where your services can complement their current tech stack. For example, a mobile development company can partner with a web development company which can complement each other while benefiting the client.

Beneficial product launches

Technographic data helps to understand the public requirements and pain related to certain areas like CRM or outdated processes. You can use that demand to curate and launch products aligning with required requirements and fitting the need like a piece of puzzle.

What are the challenges of using technographic data?

The challenges of using technographic data are lack of accuracy, cost, compliance and legal regulations, irrelevant outreach, data interpretation, and resource allocation.

Some of the main challenges of using technographic data are tested below: 

• Lack of accuracy: The technographic data can be inaccurate or outdated especially based on the source and collection method. Usually, the techno graphic data sources have not updated the data resulting in outdated or inaccurate outcomes.
• Cost: Technographic data collection can turn out to be costly especially if you are using third-party vendors for data collection. While they have accurate and updated data, you might require paid plans or services for it.
• Compliance and legal regulations: Data collection and privacy laws are highly sensitive in various localities like GDPR in the EU and CCPA in California. Violation of such data privacy laws can result in heavy fines and a damaged reputation. To avoid this, make sure to collect technographic data from legitimate sources that can be justified.
• Irrelevant outreach: Your outreach and sales pitch can be highly irrelevant if you are approaching a prospect with outdated or inaccurate data. Make sure to find legit relevant data only to make your pitch meaningful and valuating.
• Data interpretation: Collecting the technographic data, you will have to understand and interpret it to know how to use it. You might end up wasting time on the wrong industries and companies who do not need your services if you are misinterpreting the technographic data.
• Resource allocation: Gathering technographic data requires putting various resources like monetary, manual effort, and time. Resource allocation for technographic data can be tough especially if you are a small-scale company. However, the right use of technographic data can offer a high return on investment ROI.

What are the best providers of technographic data?

The best providers of technographic data are Bookyourdata, BuiltWith, Zoominfo, Apollo,  Lusha, and Crunchbase.

Some of the best providers of technographic data are listed below:

Bookyourdata

‍Bookyourdata is a B2B sales intelligence platform offering verified contact data with free firmographic insights like company size, revenue, and industry. It also provides technographic data, helping users identify the tools and software used by target companies. With real-time validation and high deliverability, Bookyourdata ensures precise lead generation at a cost-effective price.

BuiltWith

‍BuiltWith is an online tech finder that helps with information about the technologies implemented by a website like tools, text, or hosting servers. BuiltWith is used by sales, marketing, and development teams through a browser extension for instant insights. While it is cost-efficient, the database might be limited.

Zoominfo

‍Zoominfo is an online data provider that offers B2B data and insights to reach your target market with precision. The platform is mainly used by sales and marketing teams for personalized prospecting, outreach, closing, retention, and engagement. While they offer vast company data with integration options, the subscription costs can be high.

Apollo

‍Apollo is a data-driven sales and marketing platform that covers over 35 million companies worldwide. It helps to gather info and reach prospects at the same time. While it is an all-in-one platform for lead generation, its advanced features might have limited capabilities.

Lusha

‍Lusha is an AI-powered database covering more than 150M profiles. The platform is ideal for prospecting, especially for small businesses. While it can be cost-efficient, it might not provide insights into advanced data sets.

Crunchbase

‍Crunchbase is an online database offering insights about investments and funding rounds along with technical information about those companies. While it is ideal to target new companies and startups, it might not have the detailed technical data you might need.

How to check the quality of Technographic data?

To check the quality of technographic data make sure to consider these factors:

• The data should be accurate and reliable as per the technologies being used. Cross-check the data with publicly available information.
• The technographic data should cover comprehensive aspects and should not be incomplete. Make sure your data has all the details you require.
• The data should be relevant to your requirements and goals. You should be looking for data that can add value to the service or product you offer.
• Make sure the data is up-to-date as per the recent changes. To check this, keep a tab on the data updating policy regularity regarding the data provider.
• Make sure to use a reliable source for data collection for accuracy. Before choosing a tool or method for data scraping, do a thorough background check and create a strategy accordingly.
• Before choosing a data provider, make sure their platform is compliant with data collection and privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA.

How is Technographic data different from other data types?

Technographic data is different from other data types because its main purpose is to provide technological insights only. For example, it offers info related to the tech stack used to create the website, platform integrations, and analytics.

What is the difference between technographic and demographic data?

The difference between technographic data and demographic data is that technographic data focuses on technological aspects of platforms and companies whereas demographic data is based on individual characteristics like location, name, age, gender, or work experience.

What is the difference between technographic and firmographic data?

The difference between technographic data and firmographic data is that technologic data is focused on technical details about a company whereas firmographic data offers basic company info like location, industry, services keywords, annual revenue, and headcount.

What is the difference between technographic and psychographic data?

The difference between technographic data and psychographic data is that technographic data is related to the technologies used by a company whereas psychographic data is focused on behavioral aspects of an individual like their interests, lifestyle, preferences, or attitude.

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