B2B Connection

Our world is becoming increasingly data-driven. This is true if you work in the public or private sector. You will be asked to justify critical decisions with data. Even more so, technological advancements give us the opportunity to leverage data to make informed decisions. Surveys are an incredibly helpful and common way to collect qualitative and quantitative data. But not everyone knows how to craft effective surveys that produce useful and reliable results.  Why is Good Survey Design Important?  If you’re wondering why establishing good survey design practices is important, it’s simple. Good surveys with good questions produce good data that can turn into valuable insights. Poorly designed surveys result in unreliable, shoddy, and low-quality data. Where good surveys inform smart decision making, bad surveys are worse than unhelpful. They can be actively harmful. Having high-quality survey data is critical In the academic setting. It’s necessary for producing accurate and influential academic studies. Scholars that produce journal articles found to be based on shaky data can lose their funding and credibility.  Surveys are also used to conduct various types of research within the business world, including:  Market research  Competitive research  Product feedback  User experience research Employee experience feedback Customer feedback   […]

GIS, or Geographical Information System, the software offers advanced mapping features in open-source or commercial programs. There are plenty of free GIS software options available to fit the specific needs of your business. This post will help you determine which free GIS software best fits your use. The four GIS software products covered in this post are: QGIS gvSIG OpenJump GRASS GIS GIS Software Programming Language Supported OS Ideal for Basic Map Production? Biggest Pro Biggest Con QGIS Python Windows, Linux, Mac No 3D imagery, plugins Crashes, learning curve gvSIG Java Windows, Linux, Mac No CAD tools, mobile apps Mobile app is only available for Android devices OpenJUMP Java Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac Yes User-friendly Only suited for basic cartography GRASS GIS Python Windows, Linux, Mac No Geoprocessing tools One map projection per folder location GIS Software Data Capabilities GIS software uses geographical information to create maps or visualizations. This software transforms vector and raster data into realistic images. Vector data, which relates to the relational database, deal with geometries and plots. These data points are used to create distinguishable landmarks. Raster data, which relates to the spatial database, improve the image quality of maps or visualizations.  Open-Source Free GIS […]

For users looking to compare new and existing software options for their organization, reviews are your secret weapon. Real, unbiased reviews help highlight how features translate to user experience in a way not found on a vendor website. They will help you get answers, set expectations, and save time. TrustRadius is the most trustworthy site for user reviews of business software. And the top reason buyers visit TrustRadius is to compare products! You can use TrustRadius to easily compare software products. The 3 comparison methods outlined below are Direct comparison Compare qualitative features Explore who is using a software 1. Create a head-to-head software comparison TrustRadius offers a comparison tool you can use to look at two or three products side by side. See how product capabilities and functionality stack up. Use quantitative data (feature and attribute ratings) to directly compare important product dimensions, apples to apples. For instance, you can combine qualitative insights with factors like support, performance, and usability when comparing the software options you are researching. The TrustRadius comparison template is designed to provide the best software comparison information in a clean, simple user interface. There are three ways to create a comparison: 1. On the main […]

Zapier is an incredibly powerful tool, and you can get massive productivity benefits for a low price. In purchasing Zapier, keep in mind what you will be using it for. This will help you take advantage of this software in the most cost-effective way possible.  Zapier Pricing Cheat Sheet  Features: Free Starter Professional Team Company Zaps 5 20 Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Tasks/mo 100 750 (Base) 2,000 (Base) 50,000 (Base) 100,000 (Base) Update Time 15 Mins 15 Mins 2 Mins 1 Min 1 Min Premium Apps 3 Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Custom Logic Unlimited Users Advanced Security Features If you already know about Zapier click here to skip to detailed pricing information. What is Zapier? Zapier is a productivity tool at heart, designed to make your workflow easier. It is an integration platform as a service (IPaaS) software. Zapier works by automating repetitive or simplistic tasks. These automations are called “Zaps”. The automation follows a simple, logic-based structure, abbreviated IFTTT, or “if this, then that.”  These Zaps can take a huge number of different forms. You could create a Zap that shares Google Form responses in a Slack channel. If you had an incomplete task in ToDoist, a Zap could apply that […]

The Women in Tech Report includes 50+ new statistics and quotes on gender equality in the workplace. Topics include barriers to promotion and unconscious bias.

For different research questions, different types of data will be useful. Quantitative and qualitative data are the two broad categories your information will fall into. Understanding the differences helps you understand the uses of each. This article will help you get the most out of your research and generate more insightful results. We will discuss the characteristics of each data type, what they are best for, and how to analyze them.  Quick Reference Table   Quantitative Data Qualitative Data Catagory Quantity Traits Examples of Data Mass, Number of Objects, Width in Feet/Meters Color,  Texture, “Larger than X,” Experiences How to Gather Measurement, Counting, Surveys Observation, Explanation, Surveys Analysis Methods Cross Tabulation, Trend Analysis,Data Visualization Content Analysis, Narrative Analysis, Ethnography, Quotes, Natural Language Processing Best For: Statistical Analysis, Comparison to a Control group Descriptions, Experiences, Human Behavior and Emotions Quantitative Versus Qualitative Examples With the quick-reference chart in mind, understanding the difference between these two is easy. Quantitative data deals with numbers and directly measurable, standardized information. Qualitative data is focused on the characteristics of something.  A great way to remember these things is to look at the words themselves. Quantitative deals with quantity. Qualitative refers to qualities. The key is […]

Video editing software can range from simple drag and drop to complex 3D environment and effect manipulation. As such, the features and skills required vary with the software. For free video editing, there are many choices, suitable for different use cases. Some users want simple interview-style videos or product demonstrations. Others want 3D effects tools. Most importantly, you want to be able to best take advantage of the features available. With the right information, you can balance your skill and requirements to make the right choice. The best free video editors we will be exploring are: Movie Maker Online iMovie Lightworks Hitfilm Express DaVinci Resolve Free Best Video Editing for Each Need We will start with a basic overview of top free options for video editing, then dive into what uses each software is best for.    Ease of Use Best OS trScore Browser Only Biggest Pro Biggest Con Movie Maker Online   Very Easy  PC  N/A  ✓  Simple and Easy to Use  Very Basic Features iMovie Easy- Moderate  iOS  8.7/10  X Great Render Speed Poor on non-iOS Lightworks Moderate PC, MacOS, Linux 8.9/10 X Balance of Features and Ease of Use 720p Export Limit in Free Version Hitfilm Express   Moderate- […]

This is last year’s news. We’ve got new research for 2021. SEE THE NEW DATA This is the second annual Women in Tech Report published by TrustRadius to celebrate International Women’s day (and women in tech every day). The report addresses critical issues for women in the technology industry in 2020, and incorporates responses from over 700 tech professionals.  Download the report Topics explored in the report include: VC funding gap Gender pay gap Confidence Opportunities for growth Mentorship Work/life balance Flexible scheduling Parental leave & benefits Visibility Leadership Recruiting Company culture Diversity/Intersectionality Unique challenges Advice The survey was open to everyone who works in the tech industry— women, men, and people of all other gender identities. TrustRadius invited its global audience and their networks to take part. We also made a  donation to nonprofit organization Girls Who Code on behalf of participants to thank them for their time. Here are some of the key findings from the TrustRadius 2020 Women in Tech Report. 2020 Women in Tech Statistics VC Funding Gap There is a serious gap in venture capital funding for women-owned startups. Women-founded companies only received 2.3% of VC investment. 58% of women in tech find the VC […]

Searching for software in a relatively new category is not the same as buying software in a cemented one. For example, there is a ton of information about what the best firewall tools are or loads of tips on how to choose the best marketing automation software. However, there isn’t much about intent data providers and their key differences. You may know that you need a solution to a particular problem, but have no idea where to begin with  actually identifying potential vendors and figuring out a game plan for implementation. The good news for you is that Alloy recently published all about this in the Tell-All Guide to Buying Software (in an emerging category). In this post, we’ll define what an emerging category is, how to choose your top picks in such a category, highlight the biggest kicker, and end with some roadblocks or gotchas to look out for on your buyer’s journey. Here’s how to buy new software. What is an emerging category? An emerging software category is one that is in its early stages of development and takeoff. Typically, these types of categories don’t even have an industry-wide agreed-upon name, so get creative with Google searches when scoping […]

A recent survey of business professionals conducted by TrustRadius revealed the most annoying workplace jargon of the decade–in the tech sphere and beyond. It looked at why these buzzwords rub so many of us the wrong way and found perceptions differ along gender lines and across company sizes. The survey also showed differences between generations of business professionals. How do professionals in different age groups feel about business buzzwords?   TrustRadius compiled the top responses from each generation of survey respondents. Here are the business buzzwords Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Z consider most annoying. The business jargon that annoys Baby Boomers the most Think outside the box At the end of the day Going forward (or moving forward) Cloud Euphemisms involving the word “team” (teamwork, team-building, team player, there is no “I” in “team”) On the same page Agile Ping Gen X’s least favorite business buzzwords Synergy Think outside the box Circle back At the end of the day Low-hanging fruit Leverage Cloud Agile The business buzzwords millennials can’t stand Synergy Take it offline Circle back Think outside the box Cloud Low-hanging fruit Big data Move the needle The business jargon Gen Z hates most (for now) Growth […]

As we enter the holiday season, it’s worth pausing to consider what we’re thankful for in our professional lives. If you’re involved with, or about to be involved with, buying software for your business, take a moment to appreciate user reviews. Your peers have taken the time to share their experiences with you, the good, bad, and ugly, to help you along in your own buying journey. According to the 2020 B2B Buying Disconnect report, buyers like you use those reviews in a variety of ways, and often in multiple ways simultaneously. Check out some of the top reasons buyers told us they were grateful for reviews this holiday season. Reviews Contain Information You Trust If you don’t take a moment during the holiday season to tease your parental figures that their childhood deceptions about Santa gave you trust issues, you’re missing out on (good-natured?) ribbing opportunities. While software reviewers can’t give you back Santa, they are a crucial source of trusted information for buyers like you. According to our research, the most frequent problem reviews solve is surfacing relevant experiences from trusted sources—other users! While you probably use more than one source of information when buying software, reviews almost […]

This week, TrustRadius published The 2020 B2B Buying Disconnect Report. It provides an outlook for buying and selling business software and hardware in 2020, based on a broad survey of buyers and vendors. The report tracks year over year trends and changes in the market. It also explores new areas of inquiry, including purchase dynamics within different organizations, the specific impact of reviews in the buyer’s journey, attitudes towards analyst rankings & reports, and how lead handling processes affect relationships. In this post, we’ll highlight some of the key resources software buyers are using to make a purchasing decision. Buyers identified reviews, product demos, and analyst rankings or reports as being some of the most helpful resources to consult. We hope that the insights shared by other buyers are useful to you on your buyer’s journey, and help make some of the obstacles you may encounter seem less arduous.   Who’s doing the buying? Our research uncovered that 95% of buyers work with a group of stakeholders to identify a new tool for their organization to utilize. Buying committees allow for chosen software to represent a more diverse array of interests and alleviates some of the stress associated with having a single […]

Jargon is part of doing business anywhere–but it’s most rampant in the mid-market Research shows no matter where you work, you almost certainly hear buzzwords sometimes during your day. On average, 94% of professionals hear business buzzwords on a daily basis. More likely than not, you’re hearing these cliches often, or even way too much. But it turns out, buzzwords are not distributed equally in the workforce. They’re most pronounced in the mid-market. Looking at the frequency of business jargon based on the number of employees who work at an organization, smaller and larger companies aren’t quite as beleaguered as mid-sized companies. 26% of respondents in this study were from small businesses, 41% were from mid-sized companies, and 32% were from enterprises. Read on for more insight into business buzzwords usage by company size. You’ll find out which buzzwords small business, mid-market, and enterprise employees hate. You’ll also find out more about what makes language in these workplaces different. Business jargon at small businesses Employees at small businesses seem to experience buzzwords the least during the workday. Still, around 1 in 5 respondents who work at a company with fifty or fewer employees said they hear business buzzwords way too […]

Women and men suffer equal exposure to business jargon According to a recent survey of business professionals, for 95% of women and 93% of men business buzzwords are a fact of daily life. Gender doesn’t impact the frequency with which businesspeople have to deal with bad jargon. More than 1 in 4 women and men alike say they hear business buzzwords way too much in their typical workday.  Though men were slightly more likely to answer at the extremes–”Almost never” or “way too much!”–than women, it’s clearly a plague upon both houses. The top 18 buzzwords for men vs. women in the workplace Here are the top 18 worst examples of corporate-speak, according to men and women. They agree that “synergy” deserves to be crowned the most annoying of all. But the other business jargon men hate the most differs from what women hate the most.  If you’d like to see the top 18 business buzzwords regardless of gender, see the comprehensive list of the top buzzwords and what they mean here. “Think outside the box” vs. “take it offline”Men and women both hate both of these phrases. But it’s interesting that women are more annoyed by being told to “take […]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that not all software products are created equal. That’s why, in honor of Independence Day in the US, we’re celebrating the software that users would follow to the ends of the earth with TrustRadius’ Most Revolutionary Award!  To determine the most revolutionary software, we examined TrustRadius’s collection of over 2.67 million words contained in reviews across hundreds of product categories, looking for the products with the most reviewers mentions of the word “revolution” or any derivative thereof. The stars at the top of our list have really earned their stripes! The people have spoken. These progressive technology products capture the innovative spirit of revolution.  Introducing our Most Revolutionary Software for 2019 in alphabetical order: Act-on Airtable Appian Cvent Event Management Gainsight HubSpot MindTouch Oracle HCM Cloud OutSystems SharpSpring Inspired by our list of Most Revolutionary software, we’ve compiled a ten-step guide to how each of our winners helps their customers start their own successful revolutions!  Step #1: Focus on what’s valuable to achieve at the moment with Appian  Setting a focus for your budding revolution helps people rally around what’s really important. Just as the Patriots of the American Revolution were seeking freedom […]

This is old news. We’ve got new research for 2021. SEE THE NEW DATA Tech is still a male-dominated world. Recently, we published the 163 Voices: Women in Tech Speak Up report to shed light on the experiences of women working in the technology industry. We heard many stories of success, accomplishment, bias, and discrimination. But what are the numbers behind the stories? What are the women in tech statistics every tech employee should know? Check out this infographic for the highlights of the state of women in tech: Key Points About Women Working in Technology: In 2019, women are outnumbered 3 to 1 in tech. (tweet this) Why do women join tech? 37% get started in the industry because of its fast pace. The ability to solve interesting problems (35%) and opportunities for growth (27%) round out the top 3. (tweet this) 43% of female tech professionals don’t think their company invests enough in building women’s careers. These perceptions vary by experience level, department, and job title. (tweet this) Around 1 in 4 leadership roles at large tech companies are held by women. (tweet this) Women in tech earn 94.6 cents for every dollar earned by a man with […]

This is old news. We’ve got new research for 2021. SEE THE NEW DATA Today—on International Women’s Day 2019—we are launching 163 Voices: Women in Tech Speak Up. It is a report that tells the individual experiences of 163 women in the tech industry, spanning roles and generations. It is a report that we hope will play one small part in improving workplace dynamics. Download the Full Report Here TrustRadius has always aimed to change the tech industry. Our mission is to bring transparency to the world of buying and selling business technology. For both buyers and sellers, we aim to let the truth speak for itself, in the words of the professionals who use the technology day in and day out. This report holds a different kind of truth. It promotes a different kind of transparency. There are plenty of broad quantitative research studies investigating the state of women in tech—providing evidence of discrimination such as wage gaps, lack of VC-funding, and accelerated quit rates for women in the industry. Those studies are extremely important in inciting change. So why read this report? Who cares about 163 voices, in an industry that represents more than a million jobs? This […]