Worldwide IT spending reached approximately $5.6 trillion in 2025 according to reports from Gartner. The 10.3% increase over spending in 2024 was fuelled by continue investment in AI infrastructure. The US and China remain the global leaders in technology innovation and investment, with the UK positioned as a major European hub.
The seven largest tech companies by revenue in Fortune’s Global 500 list for 2025 were Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer), Meta Platforms and Nvidia, all of which had revenues in excess of $100 billion. Six of these companies also appear in the list of largest companies (of any kind) by market capitalisation, with TSMC (the Taiwanese semiconductor foundry) taking the place of Foxconn.
The UK’s technology sector is said to be the third largest in the world (after the USA and China), with a market valuation of $1.2 trillion in mid 2025. The UK has particular strengths in FinTech and cybersecurity.
Technology is a core industry for FieldworkHub and we have facilitated market research projects covering a diverse range of topics including embedded processors, smart homes and smart devices, virtual reality headsets, enterprise software, mobile apps, online advertising and public policy topics such as the regulation of social media.
Focus groups allow participants to combine experiences and perspectives to explore ideas in depth. Commonly used during creative and conceptual development, they help you understand your customers’ needs, perceptions, and beliefs.
In-depth interviews (IDIs), where a moderator interviews a single respondent, can be conducted face-to-face, online, or over the phone. They are ideal for B2B research and for exploring delicate subjects with consumers and hard-to-reach groups.
Ethnographic research is a qualitative research method in which the researchers observe participants using a product or service, or carrying out other activities, in their own environment, typically at work or at home.
An online bulletin board (OBB) is an online forum for qualitative market research that enables participants to log into to carry out research tasks or reply to questions asked by a moderator at their own pace, typically over a period of a few days.
A market research online community (MROC) is similar to an online bulletin board (OBB). However, unlike an OBB, on online community may be used to serve multiple purposes, and the community may remain active for weeks, months or even years.
User experience (UX) testing is a qualitative research methodology which involves directly observing and interviewing a participant using a product or service. It is widely used for testing new versions of apps and websites before they are launched.
Customer experience (CX) testing evaluates how customers interact with a product, service, or digital platform. It helps identify usability issues and overall satisfaction to improve the customer journey and ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience.
A video survey is a type of unmoderated qualitative research in which survey takers respond to a series of instructions or questions by making short videos using their smartphone, either in ‘selfie’ mode or to record an activity.
Vox pop research involves making recordings of people, usually members of the public, responding to questions. These clips are often used in research to illustrate public opinion on widely known topics, brands, or products.
Online surveys are a cost-effective research method with great flexibility in design. Automated data handling allows the results to be available quickly and many online surveys can be completed on smartphones, helping to improve the response rate.
CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviewing) leverages technology to reach those who aren’t online. CATI interviews follow an electronic script with built in routing and type in the respondent’s answers to each question as the interview proceeds.
CAPI (computer-assisted personal interviewing) is a form of face-to-face interviewing where the interviewer reads the survey questions from a tablet device and inputs the respondent’s answers directly to the device.
For a global technology company, FieldworkHub recruited senior decision makers and C-level profiles from brand-name companes, advertising agencies and news publishers in the UK and Germany for online focus groups and IDIs about data privacy.
Our client wanted to hold focus group discussions with members of the public and opinion elites in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Poland on their perceptions of the way that technology companies use artificial intelligence. This involved recruiting 240 respondents over a period of 5 weeks.
Our client was assisting a major online video streaming service which wanted to refine and test the way it communicated an important service change to subscribers. We recruited 12 recent subscribers and 12 tenured subscribers in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Korea and the UK.
We recruited a variety of smartphone users in Japan to understand how they use ‘focus mode’. We were asked to recruit mostly iPhone users and to include a number of students in the sample. Participants needed to be 18+, with an average daily screen time of 4+ hours.
A well-known audio streaming platform wanted to understand the audio consumption habits of members of Gen Z in 14 different countries. FieldworkHub was tasked with finding 30 participants in total who all spoke English and listened to some form of audio at least once per week on the client’s platform.
We were asked to recruit ten respondents in the UK and 30 in each of France and Germany to provide feedback on VR headsets made by a leading brand. The manufacturer wanted their views on both the products themselves and the way in which they were promoted through point-of-sale displays.
