Millions of IT professionals visit the Spiceworks Community monthly, and they love to voice their opinions. They’re constantly sharing about their challenges, needs, and future plans in online discussions and formal Spiceworks studies.

Thanks to our close relationships with IT leadership and systems administrators, every year we’re able to publish our State of IT research, which contains valuable information for B2B marketers, including actionable insights on IT spending, buying behaviors, and tech trends you can profit from. Let’s review the key takeaways from our 2024 report and explore recommended next steps for marketing success.

If you’ve had the chance to read through the State of IT, you already know that businesses plan to increase YoY technology spending in 2024. These expected gains come even at a time when the vast majority of organizations (84%) are worried about a recession and many businesses have already cut back on unnecessary spending within the last two years.

In fact, our data indicates IT spending will grow at a healthy pace in 2024.

Our research also uncovered the top factors driving these budget increases, including: Need to upgrade outdated IT infrastructure (52%), increased priority on IT projects (52%), increased security concerns (48%), inflation (46%), employee growth (44%), and business revenue increases (35%).

More on those last two points: 73% of companies expect their revenue to grow YoY (compared to 58% in last year’s study) and 59% of companies expect to increase total employee headcount in 2024, both positive economic indicators.

In our State of IT study, 74% of IT buyers indicated their company recently changed tech buying behaviors in one or more ways to reduce costs. For example, 38% of companies said they’ve re-evaluated vendors or contracts within the last two years… and our research indicates they’re not done shopping around.

Currently, 87% of businesses are open to switching tech vendors. These companies are considering changes in an average of two categories (e.g., hardware, software, cloud services, telecommunications, and more).

This willingness to switch represents both challenges and opportunities. On one hand, as buyers scrutinize current contracts and explore alternatives, B2B tech vendors must actively take steps to retain existing customers. Use of account intelligence and intent data can help identify which of your current clients is actively engaging with your competitors’ content.

In this same environment, tech marketers now have the opportunity to win business from competitors. And with more money being brought to the table in 2024 than in 2023, it could be an opportune time to drive growth through a competitive conquesting campaign.

When reaching out to prospects in the current tech environment, it’s important to understand their wants, needs, and potential objections. What messaging will resonate with them in the coming year? While every buyer is unique, our research offers insights into what many IT buyers are thinking.

IT professionals turn to tech vendors to help them solve pressing business problems. And in 2024, the following are among the top tech challenges organizations expect to face:

Speaking directly to ways you can help solve buyers’ problems will go a long way, such as highlighting the time and money your product can save and demonstrating the ease of switching away from a competitor’s product.

We also asked tech buyers about how they currently evaluate vendors and compare new products and services. Organizations are always looking to get the best value for their money, so it’s not a big surprise that price is a top concern given recession worries.

But amid current difficulties where 63% of senior tech leaders say it’s hard to hire skilled IT talent, finding a dependable partner is also very important. Your potential buyers want better support, the right product for their situation, and they want to reduce burden on IT… by working with a brand they can trust.

So you know what buyers are looking for today. But what are your next steps? From a content perspective, IT buyers want the ability to easily learn about the ins and outs of your product, both from a technical and pricing standpoint.

Also, they want to understand how your solution compares to others they’re evaluating so they can make an informed decision or recommendation. And speaking to the importance of online communities and reviews, they greatly value the opinions of their peers.

Here are the top types of useful information types tech buyers seek when evaluating tech products and solutions, sorted by seniority in the IT department.

Note that IT staff (not managers or director titles and above) typically do the bulk of the initial research during the product search. However, these technical gatekeepers are often underserved by tech vendors that prioritize getting in touch with the C-suite.

In our study on the influence of ITDMs vs. BDMs, we showed that mid-level staff are very actively involved in the buying process, and tech vendors need to do a better job of catering to them if they want to win new business.

One possible solution: Spiceworks knows IT pros. We can help you build research-backed, integrated campaigns that resonate with IT buyers in-market, across many roles, using a mix of assets.

IT departments strive to do the best they can, given the resources they have. The good news is that many organizations are now strategically investing in IT. In 2024, slightly more than half of IT budget increases (52%) will be influenced by an increased priority on IT projects, making this a top driver of tech spending growth.

However, some businesses are investing more than others.

Among participants in the State of IT, we identified the Best-in-Class IT teams based on performance and improvements (top 20%) across common metrics including availability, user satisfaction, recovery time, proactively preventing tech issues before they arise, protecting against security issues, and more.

Best-in-Class companies are also significantly more likely to use and plan to adopt a wide range of emerging technologies as well. For example, 53% of Best-in-Class companies already use AI, vs. only 20% of others.

In 2024, opportunities await you. Businesses plan to increase IT spending and we’ve just equipped you with knowledge and concrete next steps for making the most out of your marketing efforts.

In the coming year, IT buyers will be willing to spend despite recession worries.. Many are actively searching for new solutions and our research demonstrates that the companies investing more often see a greater return on their IT investments..

But to reach these buyers, you’ll need to actively connect with them. The good news is, they want to talk to you too. Our research reveals that 78% of IT buyers want to engage with tech vendors’ product experts before making a purchase.

Spiceworks is a great place to connect with prospects. Every month, millions of IT professionals come to Spiceworks for our Community forums, news and insights, or our IT tools and apps. Thanks to our deep relationships with millions of IT professionals across the globe, we can make it easy for you to launch effective campaigns that resonate with your target audience.

Contact us to learn about our integrated marketing campaign and research capabilities. We can help you develop turn-key data-driven assets that help you reach in-market buyers through full-funnel campaigns that help you connect with tech buyers in an authentic way.