Mapping Decision Ecosystems and Profiling Influencers
The Call
Facing a sharp increase in competition, the leading, global SaaS provider of customer engagement platforms (CEPs) sought to better understand the people and processes that contribute to corporate software purchase decisions. In addition to targeting enterprise and mid-market companies, they were also interested in studying multiple job functions that directly and indirectly influence outcomes. This client selected Catapult in part because of our qualitative moderator’s ability to quickly build rapport and trust in a disarming manner with professionals and c-suite respondents as well as our history conducting research among tech decision-makers.
Our Response
Our qualitative approach allowed us to have intimate, 1-on-1 conversations with decision-makers. The design took several factors into mind, including the difficulty of getting onto this busy audiences’ schedule and privacy considerations when discussing business operations. We partnered with trusted specialty recruiters to identify and connect with 45 of these hard-to-find professionals, and our interviews dove deep into their roles and aspirations, organization structure, information resources and networks, and the people and inputs that go into decision-making processes.
The Celebration
Our analysis provided an in-depth look at the individuals who influence tech infrastructure in general, and CEPs specifically. We mapped the decision ecosystem, charting the players involved, interests represented, and motivating factors and attitudes that impact their inputs into the process. Paired with themes about career aspirations, job-function needs, and trusted information sources, we were able to identify several engagement strategies for this client to meaningfully connect with and position themselves for maximum consideration.