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Industry
Specific
There are
wide variations between different business activities; actual
'IT Managers' are present in:
- 13% of
architecture sites
- 27% of
civil/structural engineering sites
- 33% of
electrical/electronic and mechanical engineering sites
- 51% of
process engineering sites.
The
Size Factor
No surprises
in the fact that the percentage of sites with an 'IT Manager'
rises as site size increases; they are present at 13% of sites
with less than 50 staff, compared to 60% of sites with between
250-1000 staff.
C.
The Function Of Technical/Engineering Director
Looking at
the engineering/manufacturing sectors, 18% of sites with someone
carrying out the function of technical/engineering director give
that person the title of either 'Technical Director' or 'Engineering
Director'. Breaking this down by business activity, the proportion
of sites who have allocated job titles in this way are as follows:
- 23% electronic
engineering
- 19% electrical
engineering
- 19% 'other'
manufacturing
- 18% mechanical
engineering
- 14% process
engineering
- 12% 'other'
construction
- 10% civil/structural
engineering.
'Managing
Director' is however, the most common title (on 32% of sites)
for individuals carrying out this function.
Conclusion
It's worth
noting that the data on decision makers in our database is collected
primarily for direct marketing purposes, and not to analyse how
various functions are distributed within CAD/CAM using sites.
We know that
four out of five of UK CAD/CAM using sites have less than 250
staff, and that the smaller the site, the greater the chance of
finding multi-functioning managers. The distribution of job titles
illustrated above provides further evidence of the scope of the
challenge that suppliers face in attracting the attention of managers
pulled in every direction.
In a previous
issue of CAD
SPAGHETTI
(see 'Understanding SME Markets')
we heard how Microsoft differentiates small businesses according
to those that have an IT manager, and those that do not - and
then targets them differently. Paul Tollet, Small Business Director
for Microsoft, told us: "...companies with IT managers
have made it the sole responsibility of this person to bring the
benefits of IT to their business, rather than juggling IT issues
with running the whole business. It is therefore a more receptive
market." Such targeting becomes possible if you have
access to a database that pinpoints the businesses that have appointed
specialist managers.
These findings
also show the value of acquiring multiple contacts for each target
site when building a prospect database. Gathering single contacts
on the basis of responsibility for a particular function will
not always provide an appropriate decision maker, or the scope
to target a sales or marketing approach to the most relevant individual.
For example our database shows that 6% of sites stated that the
job title of the person with overall responsibility for CAD functions
is 'Draughtsman'. In these cases, holding details on the individual
with overall responsibility for IT is likely to be more relevant.
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