Aberdeen

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.

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

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

• B2B market research
• Industry analyst services
• Technology research
• Custom research solutions
• Competitive intelligence

Headquarters

HQ city

Waltham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core 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

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Spiceworks Ziff Davis (SWZD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAberdeen 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

Direct 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

• Xx.com/aberdeengroup
• Facebookfacebook.com/aberdeengroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aberdeen

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Aberdeen