• Quantitative Research: IDC employed a quantitative research methodology, using a structured questionnaire to conduct the survey via computer-aided telephonic interviews.
• Targeted Audience: As per the client’s requirements, the survey was targeted at ICT decision makers or influencers from a range of SMBs, with the respondents being able to choose whether they wanted the interviews to be conducted in English or Arabic.
• Multiple Deliverables: As part of the project, IDC delivered a White Paper and an accompanying infographic. This was then supplemented by email marketing campaigns, blogs, and an analytics presentation to be used during the client’s events.

• The client acquired an in-depth understanding of the key drivers and challenges shaping the adoption of BI and analytics solutions among SMBs in Saudi Arabia.
• The client leveraged the White Paper to educate prospects and the broader market on the capabilities and benefits of BI and analytics technologies. This enhanced the client’s positioning within its desired market, bolstering its ability to generate new business opportunities.
• The supplementary content within the infographic, blogs, and email marketing campaigns further strengthened perceptions of the client’s brand as a trusted partner for SMBs in the Saudi market.
• With the help of the White Paper, the client was able to fine tune and validate the messaging it was putting across to potential end customers in the BI and analytics arena.

• Clear Objective: The aim was to understand the trends, drivers, inhibitors, technologies, and challenges that are impacting the adoption of cloud-based customer-engagement solutions in contact centers.
• Targeted Survey: IDC prepared a structured questionnaire on customer engagement and communication management technologies and carried out the survey using computer-aided telephonic interviews.
• Segmented Focus: The survey focused on specific industry segments across a total of 100 organizations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, using random sampling followed by quasi-random purposive sampling to achieve the desired quotas.
• Secondary Research: To gain further insights, IDC also carried out secondary research and in-depth, analyst-driven interviews with customer-care professionals and IT decision makers.

• The client acquired an in-depth understanding of the market sentiment and adoption plans for cloud-based customer-engagement applications in the region.
• With the help of the White Paper, the client was able to fine tune and validate the messaging it was putting across to potential end customers.
• The White Paper was utilized as a positioning tool with existing customers and prospects and helped generated new business opportunities for the client.

To ensure the report had the desired impact on senior decision makers across the Kingdom, IDC’s methodology for this project incorporated the following components:

• Global Expertise: IDC called upon a large number of global subject-matter experts to contribute to the report.
• In-Country Insights: IDC utilized its in-country analyst team and relationships to gather inputs from key decision makers on the global information that had been collected.
• Existing Knowledge Base: IDC has arguably the largest ICT knowledge base for Saudi Arabia, which was extensively utilized to provide direction and supporting arguments for the report.

• NTP Plans: The report contained in-depth interviews with senior stakeholders from the clients that clearly detailed their plans and capabilities for supporting the NTP’s implementation.
• Exclusivity: The professionally designed and printed report included just five sponsored interviews, thereby maximizing the impact of each client’s messaging.
• Brand Association: By engaging with the Kingdom’s leading analyst firm, the clients were able to leverage IDC’s trusted brand status to showcase their plans and ideas to support the NTP.
• Audience: The final report was hand delivered to 500 of Saudi Arabia’s most influential decision makers, ensuring that its recommendations had the widest coverage and impact possible.

• Taking into consideration the client’s own product and service set, IDC performed an in-depth analysis of the connectivity solutions ecosystem, including partners, customers, and suppliers.
• IDC engaged with senior executives, marketing heads, and product leads of selected competitors and customers to ascertain their views on the market and their position within it.
• IDC worked with the client to develop a framework for identifying targets and used existing desk data and internal sources to calibrate a market size and forecast model based on the client’s service portfolio.

• IDC developed a holistic view of the South African IoT and connectivity ecosystem, providing the client with factual datapoints on its total addressable market and identifying potential partners to enable future growth.
• Backed by accurate insights into the qualitative and macroeconomic factors that impact growth outlooks, IDC provided the client with forecast growth prospects on which to base its strategic planning objectives and sales performance targets.
• IDC provided the client with an in-depth, on-the-ground assessment of its competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as independently validated market data to support sales, product, and service planning.

• Competitive Landscape Analysis: IDC analysts conducted interviews with all the country’s telecom operators and key ICT services providers.
• Stakeholder Interviews: IDC analysts engaged in detailed discussions with various stakeholders to assess the client’s portfolio and identify any gaps.
• End-User Surveys: IDC undertook extensive end-user surveys and in-depth interviews with large enterprises across different verticals and regions within the country.
• In-House Research: IDC conducted detailed analysis of its extensive local, regional, and global knowledgebase and research around telcos, IT services, and the overall ICT domain.

• IDC provided the client with a detailed market assessment of the current and future opportunities that exist within the country’s enterprise market.
• IDC delivered a comprehensive gap analysis of the client’s solutions, identifying the market’s key growth areas and contextualizing the client’s performance against its competitors.
• IDC provided concrete recommendations on the client’s go-to-market approach, identifying competitive threats identifications and providing strategic guidance on remaining competitive in the marketplace.
• The client gained direct access to local IDC analysts that understand the market and are able to provide research-backed recommendations aligned to market realities.

Drawing on extensive market research, insights, and analyst recommendations, IDC sought to provide the client with a clear market sizing and segmentation assessment that answered the following questions:

• What opportunity exists for the various services areas identified by the client?
• What are the key segments within the SME space and how should they be approached?
• How will these markets develop and grow over the next five years?
• Where will the future opportunities lie and how should the client address them?

• IDC presented the client with detailed SME segment profiles that included a view of the client’s market share in each segment.
• IDC mapped the client’s products to each segment profile with suggested services bundles showing a clear hierarchy of value from lowest to highest spend.
• IDC provided the client with detailed channel and partnership strategies aligned to each segment profile based on the complexity of the services to be consumed.
• IDC provided a competitive overview showing the strengths of each competitor and their respective market shares within each segment.
• To help the client capitalize on each segment’s unique requirements, IDC provided detailed guidance on go-to-market strategies aligned to each of the individual segment profiles.