Lack of proper data a hurdle for IT marketers

White paper reports on which corporations routinely base sound decisions are failing Middle East information technology (IT) marketers in the Middle East because they are often bereft of locally relevant data, suggests a new global survey. International Data Group's IDG Connect division — a technology media company — surveyed 3,217 IT professionals in 114 territories around the globe and found that white papers are weighted too heavily in favour of the North American IT industry. Western biased data may not always be the best way to connect the dots in culturally and economically different technology markets. "IT professionals outside North America say they want localised studies," suggests IDG Connect's survey released in late July. "What they often get are white papers that are heavily influenced by North American perspectives." Article continues below Kathryn Cave, editor IDG Connect International, told Gulf News that 81 per cent of respondents in the Middle East said they "find white paper content useful or extremely useful". The survey, however, discovered that 64 per cent of those same IT professionals in the region prefer to "read local content and 67 per cent struggle to find that local content. There is a desperate need for content that addresses the specific concerns of the region," said Cave. Western-positioned white paper reports can be useful in shaping general more overall approaches to the technology industry but Cave said technology marketers in the Middle East clearly want statistics and data that shed light on regional trends and industry highlights. "It is clear that the IT landscape in Saudi Arabia, for example, is not the same as the IT market in London or New York. I am absolutely astonished that vendors will invest sizable chunks of revenue in a campaign, have targets from specific countries, then not supply the content that those local audiences are looking for," Cave said from United Kingdom offices. "Consumers in the Middle East want facts and figures because they are simply not available. I spoke to a variety of people in PR agencies prior to conducting this research and the consistent feedback I received was that the region is crying out for local statistical information. Delivering insight into a market is a two part process: first you need solid information, then you need comment and opinion on what that information means." Big problems One of the big problems in gathering locally relevant IT data is that the information explosion online is global in nature given the billions of people online and that smaller markets of internet users are not as well represented on a global scale. According to Internet World Stats, as of March 31, 2011, of the world's population of 6.93 billion people, 2.09 billion people are now internet users. North America, for example, has a population of 347.3 million people of which 272 million people are users of the internet, according to Internet World Stats. That compares to 216.2 million people living in the Middle East, of which, only 68.5 million people are using the internet. The numbers show that the Middle East internet penetration rate is 31.7 per cent, less than half of North America's 78.3 per cent. "It is impossible to always give people the information they really want. However, what is glaringly lacking — on a global scale — is good local IT content," Cave said. "The majority of white papers are produced in North America and cater for this domestic audience. But like most audiences, IT professionals ideally want information that relates to their circumstances - not a market 7,000 miles away." Rather, any new IT data from the Middle East, for example, can be blended into wider-reaching reports to at least give some regional perspective. The IDG Connect survey said that "vendors should attempt to blend local perspectives with global, or North American-flavoured content. The high levels of frustration experienced by rest-of-the-world IT professionals indicate that modest amounts of localization will enhance engagement." One of the interesting trends that emerged from the new survey was a clear divide in the type of data IT professionals wanted based upon where the respondents lived. The survey found that North American IT professionals had a clear pecking order of things they wanted in white papers with thought leadership ranked first followed by analytical content while pure statistical content was ranked third. "What US IT professionals want most of all, the rest of the world wants least," the survey stated. "IT professionals in Asia and the Middle East, for example, most frequently describe statistical studies as extremely useful or useful. While North American IT professionals crave classic right-brain context (intuitive and contextual thought leadership), IT professionals in the rest of the world appreciate left-brain content (analysis and statistics)."