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Expert Insights on the Future of Qualitative B2B Technology Research

Explore how B2B technology trends—Security, Privacy, and AI—are reshaping qualitative research and customer insights. Learn why marketers and researchers must adapt their methods to stay relevant in a fast-changing tech landscape.

By Lisa Horwich
Managing Partner
Pallas Research Associates
Seattle, Washington
lisa@pallasresearch.com

The Importance of B2B Technology

How many times have you navigated to a website only to find it unresponsive? What about emails or postcards alerting you to a potential breach involving your data, or the numerous chatbots your banks and other businesses employ to “talk” with you? What these all have in common are the primary areas of B2B tech that my clients have been exploring lately— security, privacy, and AI.

B2B tech is not just something that is utilized by large enterprise companies; all organizations, including independent qualitative researchers, use it. One encounters B2B tech when we open our productivity applications (Word, PowerPoint, Sheets, Google Docs), log into a Zoom meeting, and contact a customer service representative at a call center. It also enables “connected” workspaces, such as factories and hospitals that have smart devices and equipment. Every time we use our laptops and mobile phones, B2B tech is involved; the semiconductor chips that power them are basic building blocks of B2B tech.

Researching B2B tech involves understanding not only what is happening at the forefront—the applications customers are interacting with—but also the underlying data that lives in the background. The interactions between the user and the data, the security vulnerabilities that exist, and how to protect the data often play a significant role in B2B technology research projects.

As a researcher, it made sense for me to reach out and interview experts who specialize in B2B technology research and get their take on the trends they are observing. I spoke with the following four individuals:

  • Hadley Edwards—Head of Research & Insights, Google Workspace Marketing
  • David Evans, Ph.D.—Director of Market Research, Microsoft
  • Tyler Lewtan—CEO, Zintro and ThinkEasy
  • Chris Neal—Vice President, Technology & Telecom, Chadwick Martin Bailey

In general, B2B technology research has been trending up over the past few years. According to Chris Neal, there’s a need for additional qualitative research: “There is more uncertainty and change. Questions are more nuanced, which oftentimes spells qual not quant.”

This bodes well for qualitative researchers—we like nuanced questions and the exploratory nature of our practice.

While the volume is increasing, so, too, is the pace. Tyler Lewtan observes, “People are trying to move a lot faster . . . I think every project could shorten by a week this year.”

Unfortunately, I think we have all noticed this trend—it’s not solely a B2B tech phenomenon.

Security

The first B2B technology trend I want to cover is security. Over the last few years, most of my projects have included some component of security—from measuring an organization’s security “posture” (how well they are positioned to ward off a cyberattack) and learning how organizations protect themselves from new attack vectors, to exploring features and functionality of a new security solution. These projects have given me insight into the concerns organizations are facing with respect to protecting their data from “bad actors.” They also make me hypervigilant about my own data security.

I do feel like we are at an inflection point with respect to security. As Neal, of Chadwick Martin Bailey, points out, “Security is always big, but seems to be getting nothing but bigger.” A day doesn’t go by without another data breach in the news. Something to consider is that these breaches have more than a monetary impact—the fines, legal fees, and costs associated with offering credit monitoring, etc.—these breaches can have a significant impact on a company’s reputation as well. Who wants to do business with a bank or medical facility that cannot protect your valuable personal data?

There seems to be a steady drumbeat around security ever since the SolarWinds cybersecurity breach in 2020.¹ In addition, last summer, the impact of security solutions on day-to-day operations was exposed when a leading manufacturer of security software, CrowdStrike, released an update that essentially broke many Windows-based workstations, leading to a huge meltdown for many companies, most notably Delta Airlines.²

As I mentioned earlier, companies can gain or lose business based on privacy and security. This makes security top of mind for most B2B technology professionals whose job is to mitigate an organization’s risk with respect to data. Unfortunately, the traditional ways of securing data and networks don’t hold up today, according to Hadley Edwards with Google. She explained that the shift to hybrid and remote working significantly changed the security tools companies use today.

Previously, organizations would have what Edwards refers to as a “grab bag of tools” to protect applications and set up permissions and an assortment of other data-access points. But nowadays the trend is moving from the “best of breed” approach—specific tools for specific functions—to consolidation with a “best of suite” approach. “There will be some consolidation, but it’ll be like, instead of 10, it’s more like five . . . everyone wants a single pane of glass, but no one wants a single point of failure,” Edwards said.

If you are conducting a study involving technology that spans the entire organization, be certain to include at least a few questions around security to understand how the organization is protecting itself. While most security-related studies tend to be focused on the chief information security officers (CISO), everyone in the organization should be cognizant about protecting against data attacks. You could include behavioral inquiries around how employees feel about their organization’s security precautions or more tactical ones, like which tools employees use for logging into their company’s network and applications. This will give you an idea of how sophisticated the organization is in its security approach. In addition, we as researchers need to put into practice our own data security protections, such as encrypting our hard drives, using strong passwords, and limiting access to sensitive data.

A final thought around security is that many of the technology vendors who create security solutions need to be secure themselves. As David Evans with Microsoft observes, “To sell security and to be secure are intimately related and cannot really be separated.”

Privacy

The second trend I want to explore is privacy. Privacy is often considered part of security, but it has additional considerations when it comes to B2B tech. As mentioned earlier, brand reputation is key when thinking about how a company approaches security, and especially how they protect their customers’ privacy. Privacy can also be viewed as a differentiator—as it is for Apple.

An interesting viewpoint explained by Evans is the idea of privacy as a form of control. “The sharing of information is the creation of relationships, and nobody wants to have zero control over who you’re in a relationship with and who is a stranger to you.” This relationship has formed because, legally, companies must inform you if your personal data was breached, and now suddenly you are in a closer relationship with that company—and potentially with the person who has stolen your information.

Research around privacy solutions often incorporates exploring the risk mitigation tactics companies use to prevent data leakage. Data loss prevention (DLP) tools, encryption, as well as identity and access control systems, are all strategies companies use to avoid unwanted privacy incidents. But often, we find a disconnect between what they say and what they do. Most people I interview will indicate they care about privacy, but some don’t take the necessary steps to protect themselves, potentially leaving their personal data exposed.

Technology companies find that marketing “privacy” is not merely encryption technologies or privacy policies. Evans says it includes having clear policies: “Privacy policies are oftentimes written to be not totally clear, and that’s not good marketing.” He explains that marketers are still learning how to market privacy so people will care about it proactively, leading me to believe there will continue to be research around this topic in the future.

While many of you may not conduct studies about these types of technologies, the concept of privacy should be paramount in how we approach studies and the data we collect. Privacy laws vary by country and state, and change often, so staying abreast of the latest rules and regulations is critical. For qualitative researchers, privacy revolves around the idea of consent and ensuring our participants have given consent freely. It also behooves us to take another look at our data protection policies and how we share confidential documents. (Tip: Don’t use email to send any documents that are deemed confidential—use a password-protected secure server instead.)

Artificial Intelligence

The final trend I want to examine is artificial intelligence (AI), both as a research trend and as a methodology. I joke with my participants that no technology discussion (or interview) is complete without talking about AI. As we have seen in the research industry, AI is all-pervasive, and technology companies are spending a lot of time and money researching what B2B customers think about AI and how they are using it. As Edwards with Google points out, “We’ve done a lot on AI this year, and I think that just reflects the newness of it and its potential as a disruptor.  . . . [AI] is disrupting across all industries, org sizes, and facets of the business because it touches on just about every job role.”

1. RESEARCHING AI

There is a lot of research currently focused on large language models (LLMs) and the applications built on top of them. Lewtan with Zintro/ThinkEasy observes, “There’s a lot of [research on] AI and LLMs . . . how they are being used and what goes into them (and what shouldn’t go into them).” I think this trend will continue, especially from the customer’s point of view—although we tech nerds are getting a bit tired of reading about AI. Even Neal with Chadwick Martin Bailey thinks we’ve hit peak AI: “We have to go somewhere from the peak AI hype cycle.”

On a practical level, many organizations are exploring specific AI tools aimed at helping them automate and advance sales and marketing, as those use cases seem to be the ones that demonstrate AI’s immediate impact on a company’s bottom line.

Companies are also looking at “build or buy” scenarios with respect to their potential AI solutions. That is, should they buy an AI solution from a vendor or pay for their own bespoke AI solution? This is true for any type of company, both B2B and B2C. No matter which direction they go, the security of their AI solution should be a key concern.

Especially for uninformed employees experimenting with free AI tools available, security concerns can be accidentally overlooked. Edwards mentions some issues like, “What are they feeding it [the AI solution]? What are those tools feeding [downstream applications]? What do they have access to? Does that open additional vulnerabilities, including in your security supply chain?” These are topics I’ve covered extensively both in B2B technology research studies and in articles and presentations. If an organization is not building its own, it often has little visibility into the underlying security infrastructure from the vendor.

From a B2B point of view, there are many issues about AI that need to be explored, ranging from the business impact—both for the technology company, as well as their customers—to quantifying the ROI of any AI solution implemented.

“How do we prove the ROI? Measure that effectiveness?” These are the questions Edwards with Google asks. In addition, companies are exploring how to “future-proof” themselves in order to be prepared for the evolution of AI solutions they will be implementing.

With respect to security, we also have to remember that if users have access to AI tools, so do the hackers who are trying to exploit security vulnerabilities within organizations. On the bright side, many security vendors are now using AI in their solutions. It’s great for anticipating vulnerabilities and automating incident response measures.

2 AI as a Research Method

In the quest to maximize technology companies’ research budgets, AI is being used to supplement traditional methods. With an increase in DIY, as Lewtan points out, “A lot of people are trying to do more with less,” and AI offers some low-cost options for companies to do their own research.”

In addition, companies can now conduct research in regions where they might not have the budget for traditional research. As Edwards explains, “You can do them very quickly and cheaply at scale—you can get 100 [AI-moderated interviews] done in a week, and that is obviously very appealing in a lot of ways, especially when we have those limited budgets, or we have people in geos outside of the U.S.”

Agencies are starting to use it more, too, especially as an enhancement to their quant studies. “The answer might be a little more nuanced than can be captured by clicking radio buttons in a survey, but specific enough where you can train up a bot to do a pretty good job of probing,” Neal explains.

“Chadwick Martin Bailey is also using traditional qualitative up front and using the output as prompt engineering for the AI,” Neal said. Sometimes, they find that you can get more thoughtful responses with a bot because participants have additional time to think about a response that they might not have in a real-time interview.

The ideal use cases for AI tend to be the tactical ones, like message testing. Edwards describes a scenario: “You know that highlighter exercise everybody loves. What if we did that but with additional prompts?” Evans agrees, “AI message testing, we might be happy to give that foundation of research over to automation, freeing us to be more strategic.” Additionally, AI can help companies quickly and easily iterate on messaging in other countries rather than just using the U.S.-centric messaging.

The limitations of AI are not lost on companies. “I think there are some questions where we can do AI moderation, and then there will be those remaining questions where the only way we can do it is with the human moderator,” Evans points out. For agencies using AI moderation, as Neal observes, “Sometimes it [AI moderator] doesn’t understand what they’ve said already,” potentially making it repetitive and annoying to participants.

Fraud use of AI is also a concern. Some B2B participants use ChatGPT to embellish screener answers to qualify for studies, as well as within survey questions. With incentives closing in on $1,000 for the hard-to-reach technology professionals, combating fraud becomes even more important. “I just think fraud is going to get worse and worse, and more and more,” says Neal. This concern is prompting Lewtan’s firm, Zintro, to switch to outreach-only instead of letting people sign up for a traditional panel.

Much of this probably isn’t new for many qualitative researchers, but understanding how technology companies and agencies are using AI as a research tool and recognizing its limitations gives me hope that we won’t be replaced by bots anytime soon.

Keeping Up with the Trends

As the market evolves so quickly, researchers might find it challenging to keep up with B2B technology trends. Reading technology-focused publications, following technology thought leaders, and networking with other tech researchers can help us stay on top of the latest evolutions.

I do feel lucky that many of my projects involve testing cutting-­edge concepts that give me a sneak peek into what’s on the horizon. If I had a crystal ball, I think B2B technology research will continue to focus on company- or enterprise-wide solutions as organizations look to consolidate and streamline their technology stacks. How that research will be conducted is really anyone’s guess at this point. I’d like to think that even in the world of technology, having human insight will still be relevant.

SOURCES:

  1. SolarWinds cybersecurity breach in 2020 www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/SolarWinds-hack-explained-Everything-you-need-to-know
  2. Delta Airlines Global Outage, https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/19/faulty-crowdstrike-update-causes-major-global-it-outage-taking-out-banks-airlines-and-businesses-globally

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