Technology Buyers’ Expectations for Spending in 2022

If only it were possible to have a look at how enterprise technology purchasers are planning on investing in 2022, so as to better prepare your marketing efforts for the new year.

…wait, it totally is possible! We recently conducted some market research among tech purchasers to find out what their organizations are planning to buy, how they expect their spending to change in 2022 compared with 2021, and if/where they’re planning to attend events.

The results of our research can be found below — we hope that they help you better-target your buyers in the new year!

Who we surveyed

The overwhelming majority of those surveyed work in education or corporate environments, with 44% answering the former and 18% the latter.

Just over 10 % said they work in healthcare — the rest, in government, non-profit, retail, and hospitality sectors.

Almost 40% of them said they work in IT/AV/other technology management for their organizations. Just under 20% work in security. The rest hold job titles in administration/executive positions, operations, marketing & sales, and human resources.

What their orgs need

When asked what types of technology products they expect to spend money on in 2022, our survey-takers demonstrated the most interest in security and IT products.

Clearly, security sales are on the rise, and this is not surprising. It’s already deemed a “recession-proof” channel in the tech space — but with the last couple years’ worth of uncertainties across the world and the work-from-home boom, security products saw great success (this applies to offices, too).

Trailing close behind, though, are IT solutions. We were a bit surprised that those wouldn’t be right at the top, given how important networking, cybersecurity, and corporate software solutions have been over the last few years.

One thing is for certain: it seems security and IT products are deemed as higher priorities in most of the workplaces represented by those surveyed. At a time like this, it seems companies are hoping to focus on what’s essential, rather than update their AV.

That doesn’t mean AV companies should despair — it just means they might have to work harder in 2022 to prove why updating their specific tech product CAN be an essential investment.

A bit under 10% of tech buyers said they expect to invest in (“other”) — we’ve included a few of those responses below:

• additional computers and software
• smart IoT products for productivity and wellness
• online training and file maintenance
• no new spend

IT spending in 2022

We wanted to dive a bit deeper into the results presented in the above graph, so we asked these survey-takers how they expected their IT spending to change in 2022 over 2021. Here’s what they said:

The good news for marketers at any IT product manufacturer is that only about 6-7% of tech buyers said their budget for IT spending would decrease whatsoever.

The vast majority of respondents said their IT tech spending would either stay the same (43.1%) or increase moderately 43.4%). Even a bit over 6% said their spending will increase significantly!

IT spending was already up over the last couple of years as companies were forced to deal with the many implications of the pandemic — not just WFH and networking tech, but cybersecurity and cloud as well.

It seems this audience is hungry for future-proof solutions that protect and serve their businesses in the long-term — so marketers should focus on the language they use which depicts their products’ viability over the long run.

AV spending in 2022

While overall predicted spending on AV wasn’t as bullish as security and IT, the breakdown numbers above still predict a great year for AV manufacturers.

Well over half the respondents say their spending on AV solutions will stay the same in 2022, and the next-highest statistic (over 30%) shows spending will increase moderately.

From there, any extremes in spending changes fall off significantly, with around 5% saying their AV spending will decrease moderately, 3% saying it will increase significantly, and — thankfully — only about 2% saying it will decrease significantly.

Security spending in 2022

Again, it seems Security & IT manufacturers may have an easier time proving their worth in 2022 — but don’t translate that to “my marketing will write itself.”

Content will likely get you further in 2022 than it ever has before. This is the time to get in front of more eyes, as those eyes likely belong to someone who might be more willing to spend.

Are tech buyers attending events in 2022?

Obviously, a big part of any marketing budget is the production of and/or attendance at industry events. So here’s your evidence that these events are at least somewhat worth the investment: the overwhelming majority of these tech buyers are planning on going to at least one, if not more industry events in 2022.

This demographic is clearly more interested in more intimate, smaller show settings, where they can hear more directly from their peers and manufacturer representatives. In a previous research report, a similar demographic of tech buyers told us that they prefer to learn about products via networking with peers, which we imagine is much easier to do at smaller shows.

All that said: these survey-takers indicated that they they are more invested in virtual events than in-person, with over 22% of them saying they’re planning on attending virtual-only events in the new year, and over 60% saying they plan to attend a mix of in-person and virtual.

Less than 20% said they’re planning on attending in-person events more than other types.

The clear takeaway from these surveys is that manufacturers aiming for the IT and tech manager buyers should conduct more virtual events in 2022, as there is clearly  an appetite for them. Just know that they should be as engaging as possible — and potentially, not very long.