Aberdeen
Aberdeen Strategy & Research is a B2B market research firm producing independent, survey-driven research on technology, cybersecurity, and customer engagement for enterprise and mid-market technology decision-makers. It operates as a division of Spiceworks Ziff Davis.
- Company typePublic
- Founded1983
- HeadquartersWaltham, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Aberdeen does
Aberdeen Strategy & Research, founded in 1988 and operating as a division of Spiceworks Ziff Davis (SWZD), is a B2B market research firm producing independent, vendor-neutral research for technology and business decision-makers. The firm serves enterprise and mid-market customers across Technology/IT, Cybersecurity, Customer Experience, Business Operations, and Marketing/Sales buyer personas, with research spanning artificial intelligence and machine learning, analytics, cloud infrastructure, IT operations, customer engagement, and security. Aberdeen collects primary survey data from thousands of business leaders across multiple job roles and industries, applying its proprietary Maturity Class Framework to benchmark organizational performance against goals, employee performance, and emerging technology adoption.
The firm's research output is organized into three practice areas—Technology, Customer Engagement, and Business Operations—covering 16 distinct research practices under SVP-level oversight. Core products include the Aberdeen Strategy & Research reports, market-facing assets (eBooks, infographics, gated reports, checklists), custom research solutions (message testing, brand positioning, content strategy, concept testing, feature prioritization, market profiling), and the Research Library hosted on aberdeen.canto.com. The firm's 30+ year content archive includes hundreds of research assets across technology, cybersecurity, and customer engagement. Distribution is layered across the aberdeen.com website, the Canto research library, the parent SWZD ecosystem (Spiceworks community, Ziff Davis media properties), webinars, podcasts, video, and earned media citations in outlets including ZDNet and Spiceworks.
Revenue is generated through three streams: research content licensing to vendors and enterprises seeking third-party validation, custom research professional services for tailored marketing and product-development insights, and subscription/demand-generation assets including gated reports and written assets. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; blog content is free for individual consumption while commercial use and analyst briefings require direct engagement. Aberdeen runs a sales-led go-to-market motion: inbound lead generation is fueled by thought-leadership content marketing (blog, gated reports, newsletters, social, webinars), and higher-value custom-research and private analyst-briefing engagements are closed through direct sales. The firm operates from offices in Waltham, MA and New York, NY (within Ziff Davis headquarters) with 101–250 employees.
Aberdeen firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Aberdeen
- Legal name
- Aberdeen Group Plc
- Website
- https://aberdeen.com
- Company type
- Public
- Founded year
- 1983
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Aberdeen Strategy & Research is a B2B market research firm producing independent, survey-driven research on technology, cybersecurity, and customer engagement for enterprise and mid-market technology decision-makers. It operates as a division of Spiceworks Ziff Davis.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Aberdeen industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Market Research Services
- NAICS
- Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191), Management Consulting Services (54161), Marketing Consulting Services (541613)
- SIC
- Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- B2B / Industrial Market Research (MPAAALAA), Strategy & Corporate Development Consulting (BPAHACAA)
Keywords
Where Aberdeen is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Waltham
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Aberdeen business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Research Content Licensing: Aberdeen provides free access to research content on their blog for individuals, while commercial use of their data points, charts, and reports requires licensing agreements. The company generates revenue through paid licensing of market research content to enterprise clients and vendors seeking credible third-party validation.
- Custom Research Solutions: Tailored research services including custom surveys, exclusive research for internal strategy, marketing tactics (message testing, brand positioning, content strategy), and product development insights (concept testing, feature prioritization).
- Market-Facing Assets: Demand generation with gated reports and written assets, thought leadership through brand-neutral expertise and speaking engagements, and ongoing engagement through eBooks, infographics and checklists provided to clients.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free content access - Individual blog posts and articles |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Aberdeen product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Aberdeen Strategy & Research is a B2B market research firm that delivers fact-based, vendor-neutral, outcome-centric research across Technology, Customer Management, and Business Operations practice areas. The firm sells syndicated research content (gated reports, eBooks, infographics, and access to a research library), custom research projects (tailored surveys, message testing, concept testing, brand positioning, market profiling), and private industry analyst briefings to technology buyers, vendors, and enterprise decision-makers.
Product overview
Aberdeen Strategy & Research, a division of Spiceworks Ziff Davis (SWZD), operates as a market research firm with over three decades of experience providing independent, fact-based, unbiased, and outcome-centric research. The core offering is Aberdeen Strategy & Research itself, which delivers research across three main practice areas: Technology (covering AI/ML, Analytics, Cloud, IT Operations, etc.), Cybersecurity (covering Data Security, Application Security, Cloud Security, etc.), and Customer Engagement (covering CX, Contact Center, Sales & Marketing, etc.). The company offers market-facing assets (research reports, eBooks, infographics) and custom research solutions (tailored surveys, concept testing, market profiling) as its primary service offerings. Research Library provides access to an extensive collection of existing assets.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Aberdeen Strategy & Research Core B2B research offering that delivers independent, vendor-neutral, outcome-centric research across Technology, Cybersecurity, and Customer Engagement practice areas for enterprise and mid-market technology buyers and vendors.
- Market-facing Assets Syndicated research content sold as gated reports, eBooks, infographics, and checklists used by B2B technology vendors for demand generation and content marketing.
- Custom Research Solutions Tailored research engagements including custom surveys, message testing, brand positioning, content strategy, concept testing, feature prioritization, and market profiling for B2B technology vendors.
- Research Library Self-service digital library hosting Aberdeen's archived reports, knowledge briefs, infographics, and research assets for subscription access.
- Industry Analyst Services Private intelligence briefings and analyst-led engagements that provide B2B technology vendors with personalized research insights, buyer perspective, and competitive market context.
Quantifiable outcome
- Aberdeen research shows organizations integrating AI with sales coaching experience 3.3x year-over-year growth in sales team quota attainment compared to those using AI alone
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Aberdeen
Customer profileSegments5 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Aberdeen technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature3 records
Aberdeen partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Spiceworks Ziff Davis (SWZD)coreAberdeen Strategy & Research operates as a division of Spiceworks Ziff Davis (SWZD), a holding company that owns multiple technology and business brands including Spiceworks, Ziff Davis, and other B2B technology platforms. This relationship provides Aberdeen with access to a large technology professional community for research distribution and market reach. Aberdeen leverages the SWZD ecosystem including Spiceworks community platforms and Ziff Davis media properties for content syndication and extended audience reach.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Aberdeen competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG, now Omdia): ESG (now part of Omdia/Informa Tech) is a direct competitor focused on cybersecurity, cloud, and IT operations research, with strong overlap to Aberdeen's cybersecurity and IT operations practice areas.
- IDC: IDC is a direct competitor in syndicated IT research and custom enterprise research, covering similar practice areas (cloud, security, AI) and buyer personas. IDC's deep coverage of hardware, software, and services markets makes it a clear analytic peer to Aberdeen's technology practice.
- Forrester Research: Forrester is a direct peer offering syndicated B2B research, advisory, and consulting on technology, customer experience, and marketing. It sells subscriptions, custom research, and analyst access to similar enterprise buyer personas as Aberdeen, with a stronger consulting arm.
- Frost & Sullivan: Frost & Sullivan is a global B2B research and consulting firm offering syndicated market research and growth advisory across technology and industrial sectors. It directly competes with Aberdeen in custom research and Growth Pipeline engagements.
- Constellation Research: Constellation Research publishes subscription-based research and conducts analyst advisory on disruptive enterprise technologies, with strong overlap to Aberdeen's AI and CX practices. Smaller and tech-focused, it is a closer operational peer than larger full-stack incumbents.
- 451 Research (S&P Global Market Intelligence): 451 Research is a direct competitor focused on enterprise IT and technology vendor research, including security, cloud, and analytics. As an operationally focused research shop that publishes syndicated reports and custom research, it is highly comparable to Aberdeen's model.
Emerging players
- Nucleus Research: Nucleus Research is a smaller analyst firm focused on ROI-driven technology research. It targets similar buyer personas (CFO/IT decision-makers) with fact-based case studies, positioning it as an emerging peer rather than a full-stack incumbent.
Broad incumbents
- Omdia (Informa Tech): Omdia is the research division of Informa Tech, formed from the merger of Ovum, Heavy Reading, Tractica, and IHS Markit technology research. It is a broad incumbent covering similar enterprise tech research practice areas as Aberdeen.
- TechTarget (Informa): TechTarget (now part of Informa) operates enterprise tech media and research/intent data platforms that drive B2B demand generation. As a sister entity under Informa's research umbrella, it overlaps with Aberdeen's content-led, demand-generation-adjacent model.
- Gartner: Gartner is the largest incumbent in technology research and advisory, with Magic Quadrant, Hype Cycle, and deep analyst access. As a broader incumbent, it overlaps with Aberdeen across IT, cybersecurity, and CX research but operates at vastly greater scale across enterprise CIO/CISO buyers.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Aberdeen social profiles
Digital presenceAberdeen financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Aberdeen leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Aberdeen funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Aberdeen M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments2 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Aberdeen
What does Aberdeen do?
Aberdeen Strategy & Research is a B2B market research firm that delivers fact-based, vendor-neutral, outcome-centric research across Technology, Customer Management, and Business Operations practice areas. The firm sells syndicated research content (gated reports, eBooks, infographics, and access to a research library), custom research projects (tailored surveys, message testing, concept testing, brand positioning, market profiling), and private industry analyst briefings to technology buyers, vendors, and enterprise decision-makers.
Is Aberdeen a public or private company?
Aberdeen is a public company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Aberdeen founded?
Aberdeen was founded in 1983. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Aberdeen based?
Aberdeen is headquartered in Waltham, United States, in the North America region.
How does Aberdeen make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Research Content Licensing is the primary driver. The others are custom Research Solutions and market-Facing Assets.
Who are Aberdeen's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG, now Omdia), IDC, Forrester Research, Frost & Sullivan, Constellation Research and 451 Research (S&P Global Market Intelligence). Nucleus Research is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are Omdia (Informa Tech), TechTarget (Informa) and Gartner.
Does Aberdeen have an API?
No public API is recorded for Aberdeen.
What industry is Aberdeen in?
Aberdeen's product category is Market Research Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHALAE, Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom), with a secondary code of MPAAALAA, B2B / Industrial Market Research. Its NAICS code is 54191 and its SIC code is 8700.