Yes, ETR is known as a premier data shop, but did you know that we are also a leading provider of custom surveys for the enterprise technology vertical? With our vast community of qualified ITDMs and our internal expertise in survey operations and data analytics, ETR is your one-stop shop for all your custom research needs. In addition to ETR's syndicated surveys that populate our proprietary data sets and set the basis for the industry's most comprehensive spending intentions research, we also offer a full suite of custom research ranging from focus panels, expert end-user, and customer interviews, consulting analysis, and the industry's best custom surveys.
In fact, ETR has a robust portfolio of custom research and Drill Down surveys that we produce for our clients. These studies ranged from small-scale deep dives on the strengths and weaknesses of specific products and macroeconomic impacts on purchasing decisions to the role of consultants in generative AI initiatives and global-scale studies on the state of observability. In this synopsis, our team of analysts plucked five interesting findings from a selection of these diverse custom research projects in 2023. Read on for some of the highlights. [Please note that many other custom projects are privileged to clients only and were not applicable for this summary.]
1. Shifting Workloads in the Cloud
An August 2023 client-commissioned Drill Down survey on cloud computing (see below) generated a number of interesting findings. Prominent analyst firms and industry publications have made bold predictions about the percentage of workloads that will be in the cloud in the near future, with estimates as high as 70% by 2024. But ETR data and ETR Insights conversations with IT decision makers suggest a more conservative estimate as organizations come to terms with cloud costs that can sometimes be burdensome. This Drill Down survey found that by early 2025, only about half of organizations’ workloads will be on an IaaS or PaaS cloud environment. Meanwhile, other ETR data and ITDM commentary suggest a resurgence in private cloud infrastructure, driving a more hybrid environment.
2. Full-Stack Observability Leads to Better Incident Detection and Response
Observability vendor New Relic partnered with ETR yet again to produce its third annual State of Observability report. The wide-reaching survey captured insight from 1,700 practitioners and IT leaders from 15 countries to get a full picture of the state of observability and monitoring practices in organizations. Questions focused on the number of tools used for observability, how observability connects to business goals, budgeting plans for observability, and staffing concerns.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the study was that organizations that had achieved full-stack observability (defined in the study as having a combination of capabilities spanning multiple technical domains) achieved faster mean time to detection (MTTD) and mean time to response (MTTR) for outages, and they spent less per hour of downtime for critical outages than organizations without full-stack observability. To illustrate MTTR improvement, for instance, 35.7% of those with full-stack observability experienced MTTR improvements of 25% or more compared to 28.1% of those without full-stack observability. This is just the tip of the iceberg of this massive global study. New Relic published the full report here, including cuts of this data by region, role, and rank. ETR clients can also find the results here.
3. Nearly Half of Organizations Engaging Third-Party Partners for Generative AI Projects
Generative AI dominated headlines in 2023 following the public release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022. Organizations are scrambling to understand the technology and explore business use cases, a trend we captured in our quarterly Macro Views Survey in 2023. However, our clients are curious about the role of third-party partners and consulting firms in helping organizations launch their generative AI efforts, which spurred a June 2023 Drill Down survey on the topic. Nearly half (46%) of respondents said they were currently spending with third-party partners or had conducted proofs of concept with partners regarding generative AI projects. Another 30% of respondents have either had initial conversations or intend to begin projects with third-party partners in the next six months, too. This same survey also found that organizations are feeling considerable top-down pressure from the C-suite, board members, or investors to explore generative AI, with 44% saying the pressure is to use generative AI to improve internal processes. ETR has a full Gen AI drill-down study and report slated for release in early January 2024. Reach out to our service team at service@etr.ai for access.
4. Cisco’s Acquisition of Splunk Well-Received
In September 2023, Cisco announced plans to acquire Splunk. ETR responded quickly with a Drill Down survey that same week focused on customer perceptions of the acquisition, sampling 64 current customers of both Cisco and Splunk from our ETR Community. Respondents viewed the acquisition as a positive move for both Cisco and Splunk’s strategies and product roadmaps and felt generally positive about their utilization of the two vendors. Nearly half of the respondents stated they were likely to add new modules or features because of the deal.
In sum, the overall initial client reaction to the acquisition skewed positively, with a favored sentiment leaning more toward Cisco than Splunk. ETR’s shared account data and this drill-down survey both demonstrate a lack of product redundancy and support the potentially synergistic nature of the deal. While enhanced security was the primary benefit, pricing concerns from clients should be noted.
5. Microsoft, AWS, and Splunk Have Best AI/ML Capabilities Among Observability Vendors
An October 2023 Drill Down survey on observability tracked purchasing trends, the likelihood of consolidation of tools, and competitive features ranking across major vendors in the observability market. Microsoft, Splunk, and SolarWinds were generally seen by respondents to be their organization’s most important observability vendors, with nearly a fifth (19%) ranking Microsoft their top-ranked vendor in terms of importance. AWS was ranked fourth in importance. But when it came to which observability vendors respondents believed had the best AI/ML capabilities, the rankings were a bit different. Microsoft was seen as a leader in AI/ML capabilities for observability, with more than a quarter of respondents (28%) ranking it first. AWS, however, was second-highest ranked in AI/ML capabilities, followed by Splunk and then Google.
ETR’s expertise in survey design, operations, and data analysis drives our industry-leading Drill Down surveys and custom research. Our diverse client base leverages this proficiency to get deeper insight into specific lines of thinking about a variety of topics and vendors. Clients have used this service to gauge nuanced ideas about product features during product development, test price sensitivity in target markets, get answers to hypothetical questions about budget pressures, size up competitive threats, and read the terrain of unfolding tech landscapes and new trends. Still, others leverage our unique skill set and community positioning to ramp up, support (or refute) critical investment decisions.
If you’re interested in getting juicy insights like these of your own, reach out to service@etr.ai to discuss yo ur project. We source this insight from our large and growing ETR Community of qualified IT decision makers, the same engine that powers our decade-plus of industry-leading data on enterprise IT spending intentions. Check it all out yourself with a free trial today.
Enterprise Technology Research (ETR) is a technology market research firm that leverages proprietary data from our targeted IT decision maker (ITDM) community to provide actionable insights about spending intentions and industry trends. Since 2010, we have worked diligently at achieving one goal: eliminating the need for opinions in enterprise research, which are often formed from incomplete, biased, and statistically insignificant data. Our community of ITDMs represents $1+ trillion in annual IT spend and is positioned to provide best-in-class customer/evaluator perspectives. ETR’s proprietary data and insights from this community empower institutional investors, technology companies, and ITDMs to navigate the complex enterprise technology landscape amid an expanding marketplace. Discover what ETR can do for you at www.etr.ai