$6.6 billion.

That’s how much higher education institutions are expected to spend on technology, according to a recent IDC Government Insights report.

There’s a lot of opportunity, and that’s great news for technology vendors, but you need account-based insights to navigate this unique market. It’s not a typical enterprise sale.

Small IT staffs support large user populations.

About half (52%) of the institutions surveyed have fewer than 25 full-time IT employees, and about half (51%) also have anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 end users accessing their network.

Large user populations require larger IT budgets.

In fact, 60% of organizations with more than 25,000 users have annual IT budgets of at least $5 million, whereas 67% of organizations with fewer than 1,000 users have less than $500,000 to work with per year.

Technology evaluation happens on a seasonal basis – sometimes.

39% of universities surveyed plan continuously throughout the year. Of the schools that do have specific timeframes for evaluating and planning for IT projects, 41% do so in Q2 or Q3 for the next fiscal year.

The complete findings are available in our BAO Higher Education Trend Report. We’ve even included market snapshots that highlight segments of universities buying specific technologies that should be on your sales radar right now.

Download The BAO Higher Education Trend Report

If colleges and universities are a key vertical for your organization, you’ll want to read it before planning your next sales campaign for this market.

Download the Higher Education Trend Report

Getting Smart About Selling to Higher Education

That’s how much higher education institutions are expected to spend on technology, according to a recent IDC Government Insights report.

Budgets, IT teams, initiatives and buying cycles at colleges and universities don’t look like those in most commercial companies.

We uncovered much more, including details about wireless, cloud, security and other technology initiatives on campus.