Enterprise Jobs to Be Done: B2B Customer Research Framework
Enterprise buying decisions have never been more complex. According to Gartner's latest B2B buying research, the typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves 6-10 decision makers‚ each armed with four or five pieces of information they've gathered independently and must reconcile with the group. This complexity makes traditional customer research methods insufficient for understanding enterprise needs.
Understanding Jobs to Be Done in the Enterprise Context
The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework, while powerful in consumer contexts, takes on new dimensions in enterprise environments. At its core, JTBD theory states that customers don't buy products; they hire them to make progress in specific circumstances. In enterprises, this progress happens at multiple levels simultaneously: organizational, departmental, and individual.
Consider an enterprise CRM implementation. At the organizational level, the company might hire the CRM to "transform our sales process into a repeatable revenue engine." At the departmental level, sales operations might hire it to "provide accurate forecasting and pipeline visibility." Individual sales reps might hire it to "help me spend less time on data entry and more time selling."
The Enterprise Difference
Enterprise JTBD research differs from consumer applications in several crucial ways. First, jobs often involve multiple stakeholders with competing priorities. Second, the "hiring" process is typically longer and more structured. Third, jobs frequently relate to risk mitigation and compliance as much as progress and improvement.
As Forrester's enterprise customer experience framework emphasizes, B2B purchase decisions involve both rational and emotional dimensions, but these play out differently than in B2C contexts. Enterprise emotional jobs often relate to career security, professional reputation, and organizational politics rather than personal desires.
Modern Enterprise Buying Roles and Their Jobs
Executive Sponsor
The Executive Sponsor's jobs typically revolve around strategic progress and risk management. They hire solutions to:
Strategic Transformation: Drive organizational change and improvement initiatives that align with corporate objectives.
Risk Management: Ensure investments protect rather than threaten the organization's stability and reputation.
Value Demonstration: Show clear ROI and business impact to board members and other stakeholders.
Procurement Team
Procurement teams have evolved far beyond simple cost management. Their jobs include:
Risk Mitigation: Evaluate vendor stability, compliance, and potential supply chain impacts.
Value Optimization: Balance cost considerations with total value delivered.
Process Efficiency: Streamline evaluation and purchasing processes while maintaining compliance.
Information Security Team
In today's digital enterprise, InfoSec teams play a crucial role. They hire solutions to:
Threat Prevention: Protect against potential security vulnerabilities and data breaches.
Compliance Maintenance: Ensure adherence to industry regulations and internal security policies.
Risk Assessment: Evaluate and document security implications of new implementations.
Implementation Team
Those responsible for implementing solutions have distinct jobs:
Integration Management: Ensure new solutions work within existing technology ecosystems.
Change Management: Facilitate smooth transitions and user adoption.
Resource Optimization: Maximize efficiency of implementation and ongoing maintenance.
The Enterprise JTBD Research Framework
Pre-Sales Discovery Phase
Effective enterprise JTBD research begins long before the sale. According to Harvard Business Review's analysis of B2B purchasing, understanding the full scope of stakeholder needs early in the process significantly increases deal closure rates.
Key research areas during this phase include:
Organizational Context: Understanding the company's current situation, challenges, and strategic objectives. This includes mapping existing solutions, processes, and pain points.
Stakeholder Landscape: Identifying key decision-makers, their relationships, and their individual jobs to be done. This goes beyond formal roles to understand informal influence patterns.
Decision Criteria: Mapping both explicit and implicit factors that will influence the purchase decision, including technical requirements, budget constraints, and political considerations.
Post-Sale Implementation Research
JTBD research continues through implementation and beyond, focusing on:
Adoption Patterns: Understanding how different user groups interact with the solution and what jobs they're hiring it to do in practice.
Value Realization: Tracking how effectively the solution helps stakeholders make progress against their jobs.
Feedback Integration: Gathering and synthesizing feedback from multiple stakeholder groups to guide ongoing improvements.
Scaling Enterprise Stakeholder Research with AI
Traditional enterprise research faces several challenges: coordinating multiple stakeholder interviews, maintaining consistency across conversations, and synthesizing diverse perspectives. Modern AI-powered research platforms like Resonant address these challenges directly.
Simultaneous Stakeholder Engagement
Instead of scheduling sequential interviews over weeks or months, AI voice agents can conduct multiple stakeholder conversations simultaneously. This capability offers several advantages:
Comprehensive Coverage: Engage with all relevant stakeholders quickly, ensuring no perspectives are missed.
Temporal Consistency: Gather insights during the same time period, eliminating the risk of changing circumstances affecting responses.
Resource Efficiency: Minimize the time and coordination required for comprehensive stakeholder research.
Real-Time Analysis and Pattern Detection
AI analysis provides immediate insights from each interview, enabling:
Quick Pattern Recognition: Identify common themes and divergent perspectives across stakeholder groups.
Job Priority Analysis: Understand which jobs are most crucial for different stakeholders.
Conflict Identification: Spot potential conflicts between stakeholder jobs early in the process.
Enterprise JTBD Research Kit
Download our comprehensive enterprise research toolkit, including:
- Non-leading interview framework
- Response analysis templates
- Implementation planning tools
Multi-Stakeholder Interview Framework
Core Framework Components
Effective enterprise JTBD interviews must balance consistency with role-specific adaptation. The framework includes:
Context Exploration: Understanding the specific circumstances and constraints each stakeholder operates within.
Progress Definition: Identifying what progress looks like from each stakeholder's perspective.
Interaction Mapping: Understanding how different stakeholders' jobs interact and influence each other.
Role-Specific Adaptation
The framework provides guidance for adapting questions to different roles while maintaining consistency in core JTBD exploration:
Executive Level: Focus on strategic progress, organizational impact, and risk management.
Technical Roles: Emphasize integration requirements, security considerations, and implementation challenges.
End Users: Explore daily operational impact, workflow changes, and practical benefits.
Implementation Guide
Planning Your Research
Successful enterprise JTBD research requires careful planning:
Stakeholder Mapping: Create a comprehensive map of all relevant stakeholders and their relationships.
Research Scheduling: Plan interview timing to capture insights at key decision points.
Tool Selection: Choose research tools that can handle enterprise-scale complexity.
Conducting Research
Execute your research plan effectively:
Stakeholder Coordination: Manage communication and scheduling across multiple groups.
Data Collection: Ensure consistent capture of insights across all interviews.
Pattern Analysis: Use AI tools to identify patterns and insights in real-time.
Synthesizing Insights
Transform raw data into actionable insights:
Cross-Role Analysis: Compare and contrast jobs across different stakeholder groups.
Priority Mapping: Identify which jobs are most crucial for project success.
Recommendation Development: Create action plans based on research findings.
