• Strategic marketing answers the question: “which products and services for which markets in order to build strong positions on selected market segments”? It is closely aligned with corporate strategy, of which it is a key component, and in particular with “product policy” in B2B/B2G,
• Operational marketing, on the other hand, answers the question: “how to support the commercial effort by informing the market and facilitating the closing of sales”? It is closely linked to the business development and sales structure, whether it is composed of salespeople, technical sales engineers, distributors, agents, partners or project capture teams,

Based on this principle, operational marketing in B2C and in B2B/B2G differs profoundly, both in the tools used and in the way it supports “sales”, whose dynamics and journey are fundamentally different.

For example:

• In B2B/B2G, only operational marketing targeting a large number of small customers will present similarities with B2C practices. Approaches targeting key accounts or a limited number of major clients will be different, more relationship-driven and more personalized: client meetings, dedicated events, user clubs, conferences, proofs of concept and demonstrations, visits to technical centers, prototype loans for testing in real environments, etc.
• B2C operational marketing supports a relatively short sales cycle, often moderately technical, typically going through distributors or a website, and involving a significant emotional component. B2B/B2G operational marketing, on the other hand, must support a sales cycle that is often long, much more rational in nature, sometimes highly technical, often associated with “client projects”, and involving many stakeholders on the client side. In B2G markets, this is further compounded by the complexity of certain procedures, regulations and standards.

In both B2C and B2B/B2G, new tools have emerged that have transformed traditional operational marketing practices: digital, the growing role of data, and more recently AI have profoundly reshaped these practices. While the B2C world has adopted them rapidly—perhaps due to stronger communication expertise and simpler commercial transactions—this is not yet the case across the entire B2B/B2G landscape.

We propose to explore these new challenges and practices here in the context of B2B/B2G.

In a B2B and B2G world where companies compete through relentless technological and technical innovation, especially those operating in highly advanced environments, operational marketing is still too often perceived as a necessary evil—a discipline that may be useful at best, but always costly and unclear. It is frequently seen as a simple lead generation factory, a machine for producing web content, or an event organizer. You may have already heard phrases such as: “We need leads, launch a LinkedIn campaign!” or “The white paper is ready, now it’s up to sales.”

Digital, data and AI have made this vision completely obsolete. The markets in which you operate—whether in industry, energy, defense, infrastructure, software, critical systems, or data/AI solutions—have fundamentally changed. Sales cycles are still long, decisions are still made collectively by multiple stakeholders, and most of the battle is still often won well before a sales engineer or a project capture team even gets involved… but the means to influence the sales cycle have profoundly evolved.

Operational marketing can no longer be limited to being a simple visibility amplifier. It must transform into a direct contributor to the sales process, working hand in hand with sales, pre-sales, and bid management teams. It is no longer just about generating leads, but about actively advancing business opportunities.

So, are you ready to rethink the role of your operational marketing and turn it into a true growth driver in 2026?

Operational marketing: a real extension of your sales engine

On paper, operational marketing is the function that transforms marketing strategy into concrete actions: campaigns, content, events, nurturing, and sales enablement tools. But in technical B2B/B2G environments, its role is far more ambitious. It is no longer just about generating filled forms, but about actively helping to win deals.

Think of it as:

• A direct extension of your sales teams: it prepares the ground, equips your salespeople with the right arguments, and supports them in their interactions.
• A decision accelerator: it removes friction, anticipates objections, and addresses them before they can block the process.
• A critical influence tool upstream of tenders: it ensures that the specification criteria work in your favor.
• An equally critical tool to support the client decision-making process, guiding different decision-makers and influencers throughout their journey.

In practical terms, its scope includes:

• The activation of account-based strategies (ABM) across your key private accounts and strategic public stakeholders.
• Shaping opinions across the entire market ecosystem (clients, influencers, regulators, investors, engineering, etc.), as well as for each decision-maker or influencer within client organizations.
• Producing content directly usable by your sales teams or in response to tenders and RFPs.
• Orchestrating channels adapted to long sales cycles: targeted events, institutional networks, strategic partnerships, clusters, and industry associations.

The question is no longer: “How many leads have we generated?” but rather: “Which deals have we moved forward thanks to our operational marketing?” This is a fundamental paradigm shift for 2026.

Long cycles and collective decisions: is complexity your ally or your obstacle?

If you operate in the sale of technical solutions, you know this better than anyone: a purchasing decision is never the responsibility of a single person. More often than not, you are dealing with a mosaic of stakeholders: procurement, technical departments or IT (CIO/CTO), finance, business users, and sometimes even legal, compliance, or top management. In the public sector, add to this regulatory constraints, RFI/RFP procedures, formal tenders, not to mention political or sovereignty considerations. It’s a true labyrinth!

What are the two major consequences of this complexity?

• The decision is shaped well upstream: even before the tender process begins, it takes form through reading, informal exchanges, benchmarks, and feedback from peers.

Question 1: is your marketing present at this critical stage?

• You need to speak to each stakeholder in their own language: a CFO does not have the same concerns as a CISO, a plant manager, or a public official. Is your messaging tailored to each profile?

Operational marketing is therefore entrusted with three critical missions:

• Intervene early: with content that structures thinking (guides, briefs, benchmarks, field feedback). Are you the one shaping your prospects’ perspective first?
• Adapt the message: to each type of decision-maker, highlighting ROI, technical aspects, risk management, or political impact. Does your message resonate with each stakeholder’s priorities?
• Orchestrate full sequences: before, during, and after the tender process, rather than running isolated campaigns.

Question 2: is your operational marketing a conductor or an isolated soloist?

We are no longer talking about isolated actions, but about influence programs…ut isolated actions, but influence programs over several months. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Complex products: without pedagogy or proof, how can you exist?

In technical environments, everyone knows that no one signs a contract based on a simple slogan. Credibility and proof are absolutely central. Your prospects have a fundamental need to understand what you do, why it is credible, and above all, what it will concretely change for them. This is where the complexity of your products becomes both a challenge and an opportunity.

Question 3: does your operational marketing effectively strengthen your credibility?

This imposes three essential requirements:

• Pedagogy: how do you make a technical subject understandable for audiences who are not specialists? Your ability to simplify without distorting is critical.
• Tangible proof: quantified data, recognized certifications, compliance with standards, detailed customer cases, independent audits. What proves the value of your solution?
• Reassurance: security, compliance, service continuity, support. How do you guarantee your clients’ peace of mind?

Your operational marketing cannot work alone on these topics. It must be in constant alignment with:

• Your engineers: the technical experts who know the product, service, or solution inside out.
• Your product managers: those who define the vision and features.
• Your legal and compliance teams: the guardians of regulatory alignment.
• Sometimes even your operations and support teams: those who deal with the product on a daily basis.

Which formats truly work to turn complexity into clarity?

• Demonstrators and prototypes: to visualize and experience the solution.
• POCs (Proofs of Concept) and structured pilots: to test the solution in a real environment.
• Simulators: whether for CO₂, TCO, availability, or ROI, they help project the benefits.
• Detailed use cases: tailored by industry, they show how your solution solves concrete problems.

The objective is simple: to make a complex offering understandable, tangible, and credible for each type of stakeholder.

Question 4: does your operational marketing achieve these three objectives?

The levers that make the difference in technical B2B/B2G: beyond the obvious

Now that we have laid the foundations, let’s explore the concrete levers that enable your operational marketing to evolve from a support function into a true growth engine. This is not about revolutionary new tactics, but rather about both a strategic repositioning of the approaches you already know and the effective use of the latest tools and techniques.

Lever 1. Content & sales enablement: produce for deals, not just for the blog

A B2B/B2G content only has value if it is actually used within a sales cycle. Otherwise, it remains just a well-organized PDF sitting in a Drive, or a blog article read by a few curious visitors.

Question 5: are your contents ammunition for your sales teams, or just decoration?

To make your content truly impactful, prioritize formats that have a direct influence on decision-making:

• Solution sheets focused on use cases: they should follow a clear logic: problem → approach → quantified benefits. They directly address your prospects’ concerns.
• Industry-specific customer cases, highly concrete: with measurable before/after, precise figures, and authentic quotes. Nothing beats proof by example.
• Persona-based playbooks: practical guides for your sales teams, including typical objections, key arguments, supporting evidence, and assets to share at each stage of the customer journey.
• Modular decks: presentations that your sales teams can rebuild and adapt depending on the stakeholder and context, without starting from scratch.
• RFI/RFP response libraries: ready-to-use answers on recurring topics (security, architecture, SLAs, compliance), saving valuable time and ensuring consistency.

The right reflex is simple: every piece of content must serve a dual purpose. It should generate upstream visibility, but also—and perhaps above all—support a specific stage of a deal or a tender process. This is the key to turning your content production into a true commercial asset.

Lever 2. ABM and micro-targeting: 30 strong accounts are better than 3,000 lukewarm leads

In your markets, you know that not all accounts are equal. Key accounts or major clients often represent 80% of your revenue, and winning just one of them can justify months of effort. So why keep chasing thousands of lukewarm leads when you could focus your energy on those who truly matter?

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is the strategy that enables you to:

• Focus your resources on strategic accounts, those with the highest potential.
• Perfectly align operational marketing and sales around a shared account plan. No more silos!
• Truly personalize your messages and actions for each key stakeholder.

Here are some concrete examples of actions that illustrate this approach:

• Highly targeted email sequences by account or micro-segment, with content that resonates directly with their specific challenges.
• Personalized microsites or web pages for a given account, integrating elements from their environment or ongoing projects.
• Dedicated workshops or sessions for a key account or a group of public stakeholders, to co-build solutions.
• Content tailored to a specific regulatory context or investment plan, demonstrating your understanding of their unique challenges.

And don’t forget: in some public or semi-public deals, high-quality physical materials (a printed report, a mock-up, a tailored dossier) can make all the difference. It demonstrates your ability to execute and reinforces your credibility.

Lever 3. Events: moving from “being there” to “moving the pipeline forward”

In technical environments, trust—this fundamental pillar of decision-making—is rarely built 100% digitally. Trade shows, forums, conferences, and technical days remain key moments to meet, exchange, and build relationships. But simply being present is no longer enough. The critical question is: what happens before, during, and after the event to move real deals forward? Is your presence strategic, or just habitual—or even opportunistic?

To turn your event strategy into a true commercial lever, orchestrate each stage with precision:

• Before the event: implement precise invitation targeting. Create teasing content with high added value (op-eds, guides, studies) to generate interest. Secure qualified meetings in advance. Who do you absolutely want to meet, and how will you attract them?
• During the event: define a clear script for priority conversations. Highlight impactful demonstrators. Reserve dedicated time slots for key accounts. How do you maximize every interaction?
• After the event: deploy personalized follow-up sequences. Send tailored summaries and relevant resources. Offer demos or audits to convert interest into action. How do you turn a contact into a real opportunity?

A trade show or conference should no longer be just a budget line, but an integrated component of a broader ABM or nurturing program. It is by orchestrating every step that you transform an event into a true business driver.

Lever 4. Nurturing and marketing automation: accompanying 6 to 36 months of reflection

In B2B/B2G markets, it is rare for a contact captured today to sign a contract tomorrow. Most of your prospects are not ready to buy immediately, and their decision cycle can span 6 to 36 months. The role of your operational marketing is therefore crucial to:

Stay present without being intrusive: maintain contact in a relevant and non-intrusive way.

Progress understanding and build trust: educate your prospects and reinforce their perception of your expertise.

Detect weak signals: identify indicators that reveal a real buying intent, even if the exact timing of action is not yet defined.

How can you achieve this effectively?

• Segment-based nurturing scenarios: tailor your messages and content to the specificities of each industry, public body, healthcare or defense sector. A generic message is an ineffective message.
• Content that increases in intensity: start with introductions, then move to deep dives, tangible proof, and finally POCs (Proofs of Concept). Guide your prospects step by step through their decision journey.
• Scoring based on concrete signals: do not rely solely on PDF downloads. Integrate strong signals such as visits to specific technical pages, downloads of detailed specifications, participation in highly targeted webinars, or meeting requests. These actions reveal a much more serious level of intent.

The objective is clear: to provide your sales teams with contacts that have a real potential to initiate a project, not those who simply downloaded a document out of curiosity. Is your nurturing system an effective filter or just a simple funnel? system an effective filter or just a funnel?

Lever 5. Co-marketing and ecosystems: being included in global offers

In B2B/B2G, you almost never sell “on your own.” Your solution is almost always part of a broader ecosystem: complex architectures, integrated systems, consortia, industrial partnerships. The question is therefore not only how to sell your product, but how it naturally integrates into your partners’ overall offerings. Is your operational marketing an active player in this ecosystem?

Operational marketing can play a key role in:

• Identifying the right partners: integrators, IT service companies, complementary software vendors, industrial players, clusters. Who are the key stakeholders you should collaborate with?
• Co-producing content: white papers, benchmarks, industry studies. By combining your strengths, you create richer and more credible content.
• Running joint campaigns: co-hosted webinars, multi-party customer cases, shared presence at trade shows. Multiply your reach and impact.
• Providing partner kits: messaging frameworks, solution sheets, visuals, slides. Equip your partners so they can effectively promote your solution.

The objective is clear: ensure that your solution is naturally embedded in broader “end-to-end” offerings led by others. This is an indirect influence strategy, but an extremely powerful one in complex markets.ponses led by others. It’s an indirect influence strategy, but a redoubtably powerful one in complex markets.

Producing content that helps people decide, not just “informs” them

In technical markets, the most effective content is not the one that “tells the best story.” The content that truly makes an impact is the one that:

• Clarifies a regulation or a standard: your prospects are often dealing with complex frameworks. Your content must act as a compass.
• Quantifies an impact: TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), ROI (Return on Investment), operational gains, risk reduction. Concrete data speaks louder than promises.
• Guides decision-making trade-offs: architecture, technology choices, business models. You must help your prospects make the right decisions.

What are the key areas to focus on for your content?

• Regulation / compliance: practical guides, checklists, executive summaries. Become the go-to reference on these critical topics.
• Performance / ROI: comparisons, simulators, quantified feedback. Demonstrate the economic impact of your solution.
• Security / risk: analysis matrices, scenario studies. Address concerns and provide clear answers.
• Innovation / future: compatibility, roadmaps, interoperability. Help your prospects project themselves into the future with you.

The tone of this content must remain:

• Straightforward: no fluff, get straight to the point.
• Precise: every word matters, every figure is verified.
• Decision-oriented: highlight advantages, limitations (with full transparency), and points of attention. You are a trusted advisor, not just a seller.

Which formats should you prioritize for this approach?

• In-depth but structured articles: for readers who want to go deep.
• PDF guides or mini white papers: for more focused reading and easy reference.
• 2-page summary sheets: ideal for executive committees with limited time.
• Short video demos: focused on a concrete use case, to quickly visualize value.

Is your content a true decision-making tool, or just an informational support? The difference is critical.

B2B vs B2G: same tools, different constraints

While the fundamental principles of deal-driven operational marketing apply to both B2B and B2G markets, it is crucial to understand that operational logic and influence levers can vary significantly. Ignoring these nuances means risking a dilution of your impact.

Question 6: are your operational marketing and strategy agile enough to adapt to these two environments?

In B2B/B2G, different approaches compared to B2C

Even if some B2C operational marketing tools can be useful—especially for portfolios with many small clients—there are fundamental differences worth highlighting.

Specific levers for technical operational marketing

Operational marketing in complex and innovative technological environments is characterized by specific levers, or by tools that carry much greater importance than in B2C. Where B2C relies on emotion and mass repetition, technical B2B/B2G relies on proof through demonstration, real-world usage, and expert-to-expert trust.

In these environments, certain levers are essential to build credibility for complex offerings:

• User clubs: true communities of expert users, they help retain clients, gather valuable feedback, and turn customers into technical ambassadors.
• Technical center visits: nothing beats demonstrating your industrial or R&D capabilities in real conditions. A major lever for credibility and reassurance.
• Demonstrators and field demonstrations: putting the solution into a real or representative environment to prove its performance.
• Prototypes and product loans: allowing prospects to test the solution in real conditions over a defined period. This is the ultimate stage of removing technical doubts.
• High-level meetings at major trade shows: at events such as Le Bourget or Eurosatory, the trade show is merely a setting for strategic meetings, prepared months in advance, often in private spaces or dedicated areas.

A different budgetary and strategic weight

The structure of the action plan and resource allocation differs radically from mass-market approaches:

• Advertising and media: used less to generate direct sales and more to build institutional credibility. Priority is given to specialized professional media or reference publications for decision-makers.
• Promotions: almost non-existent in the traditional sense; they are instead reflected in enhanced support conditions, training, or extended services for early contracts.
• Expert events: high-level technical conferences and webinars replace mass events, with a focus on targeted audiences and intellectual value.

A different orchestration of operational marketing in B2B/B2G for product, service, or solution launches

Launching a new technical “product” in B2B or B2G is a high-precision exercise that mobilizes all operational levers. It is not a one-shot campaign, but a multi-month orchestrated sequence.

A typical launch plan generally includes:

1. Seeding phase (expert teasing): publishing white papers on the problem addressed, without mentioning the product, to prepare the intellectual ground.
2. Institutional launch: presence at a reference trade show with a functional demonstrator and technical conferences.
3. Early adopters program: providing prototypes to partner clients to generate the first real use cases and performance proof.
4. Targeted commercial activation: deploying ABM sequences on priority accounts, supported by feedback from initial pilots.
5. Ecosystem activation: training partners and integrators so they integrate the new solution into their own end-to-end offerings.

In B2B (Business to Business)

In the private sector, you can:

• Leverage ROI, speed, and competitiveness more strongly: companies are often more sensitive to quick gains and cost optimization.
• Test messages and campaigns more rapidly: validation cycles are generally shorter, enabling greater agility and continuous optimization.
• Push ABM further: personalization can be taken to the highest level, with highly targeted and direct approaches.
• Give significant weight to digital: SEO, LinkedIn, and expert content are key channels for discovery and engagement.

In B2G (Business to Government)

The public sector operates within a different framework:

• A strict and regulated environment: procurement processes are formalized, and compliance is critical. Your marketing must navigate this environment with discipline and rigor.
• The importance of early-stage presence: influence is built well before tenders, through institutional presence and deep understanding of public challenges.
• Key values: compliance, sovereignty, societal impact: beyond cost, public decision-makers are sensitive to alignment with public policies and the general interest.
• The central role of neutral content: white papers, market studies, and benchmarks are powerful tools to educate and influence without appearing commercial.

In the public sector, operational marketing does not sell directly. It prepares the ground, shapes perception, and builds organizational credibility. It is a long-term approach, focused on trust and understanding institutional dynamics.ectly. It prepares the ground, structures perception, and establishes your organization’s credibility. It’s a long-term approach, focused on trust and understanding institutional dynamics.

Organization and KPIs: measuring what actually matters

High-performing operational marketing in technical B2B/B2G environments does not simply produce content. It must be structured for impact and measured against relevant indicators.

Question 7: do your KPIs truly reflect deal progression, or are they limited to vanity metrics?

Effective operational marketing relies on:

• A strong alignment with sales and pre-sales teams: collaboration must be fluid and continuous, with shared objectives.
• An organization by vertical markets: to adapt strategies and content to the specificities of each targeted segment.
• Fast processes with technical or regulatory experts: to leverage internal expertise and produce relevant, validated content.

Relevant KPIs are no longer about the volume of leads generated. They focus on real business impact:

• Marketing-influenced pipeline: what share of potential revenue has been touched or accelerated by your actions?
• Conversion rates by segment: from first contact to signature, how do your actions optimize each stage of the buying process?
• Sales cycle duration: does marketing help shorten the sales process?
• Actual usage of content by sales teams: are your materials—documents, messaging frameworks, printed or digital assets, slide decks, simulators—used daily as real working tools, or do they remain unused “in drawers”?

In B2G, additional specific KPIs must be considered:

• Presence in early consultations: is your organization recognized and invited upstream of tender processes?
• Shortlisting rate: how often are your proposals selected for final stages?

Measuring what truly matters is the guarantee that your operational marketing is an investment, not a cost center.

2026 Trends: what is already transforming operational marketing

TThe operational marketing landscape is evolving at a breakneck pace, and 2026 is already well underway with its share of transformations. Several shifts are fundamentally redefining both the role and the methods of operational marketing.

Question 8: are you ready to embrace these changes to remain competitive?

Among the major trends, we observe:

• Generative AI: it no longer simply assists—it now influences how suppliers are discovered and evaluated. How are you integrating it into your content and communication strategy?
• The shift from SEO to AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): search engines are no longer just matching keywords, they are delivering complete and relevant answers. Are your contents optimized to directly answer your prospects’ questions?
• The rise of RevOps (Revenue Operations): the strategic alignment of marketing, sales, and customer service data is essential for a unified view and continuous pipeline optimization. Are your teams aligned around a RevOps framework or platform?
• The growing importance of first-party data: collecting and leveraging your own customer data is becoming a major competitive advantage. Do you truly control your data to personalize the customer experience?
• Advanced marketing automation: beyond basic emails, automation now enables highly personalized customer journeys and real-time engagement. AI also makes it possible to automate actions aligned with each stage of the journey. Are your sequences intelligent, automated, adaptive, and AI-driven?

In this context, producing content is no longer enough. You must build a structured content ecosystem, usable by both humans… and AI systems. Is your content ready for the era of artificial intelligence?

The critical role of data and RevOps: Marketing Ops as the performance engine

Without flawless data governance, everything we have just described remains theoretical. Operational marketing, in its 2026 version, can no longer be a simple “Excel spreadsheet” used to compile numbers. It must become the engine of RevOps (Revenue Operations)—a holistic approach that aligns teams, processes, and technologies around the shared objective of revenue growth. Is your marketing just a data collector, or a true performance architect?

Effective operational marketing relies on:

• A clean and structured CRM: the foundation of any data-driven strategy. Are your data reliable and actionable?
• A clear and relevant segmentation: to deliver the right messages to the right segments and stakeholders, at the right time.
• Accurate tracking of interactions: every touchpoint must be monitored to understand the customer journey.
• A seamless connection between content, automation, and pipeline: data silos are the enemy of efficiency.

RevOps becomes the foundation that enables you to:

• Measure the real impact of each marketing action on revenue.
• Prioritize actions based on their direct contribution to business objectives.
• Align marketing and business around a unified vision of growth.
• Continuously experiment: RevOps is an ongoing improvement process, driven by data analysis and process optimization.

By fully integrating this data and RevOps dimension, your operational marketing will evolve from a support function into a key driver of strategic growth management. your operational marketing will move from a support role to that of a strategic growth pilot.

The rise of brand and trust: your differentiating asset

In an environment increasingly saturated with content—and amplified by artificial intelligence—one factor remains more central than ever and makes all the difference: trust. More than ever, buyers, whether in B2B or B2G, are not just looking for high-performing technical solutions; they are looking for reliable, credible, and transparent partners. Is your brand just a logo, or a true symbol of trust?

Decision-makers increasingly value:

• Clarity of the value proposition: is your message clear and unambiguous?
• Consistency of messaging: is your positioning uniform across all channels and throughout the entire customer journey?
• Strong customer references: nothing beats social proof—not the one you claim, but the one your clients demonstrate. Are your clients your best ambassadors?
• Impeccable technical reputation: is your expertise recognized and respected in your field?

A brand is no longer just a matter of “branding” or communication. It becomes a fundamental decision accelerator in complex and high-risk environments. A strong brand builds trust, reduces perceived risk, and facilitates engagement. In 2026, your brand is your company’s most valuable intangible asset.erceived risk, and facilitates engagement. It is your company’s most precious intangible capital in 2026.

Common errors in technical B2B/B2G operational marketing: traps to avoid

Despite the best intentions, certain mistakes repeatedly occur and can undermine the effectiveness of your operational marketing in technical B2B and B2G environments. Identifying them is already a major step toward correcting them. Is your team falling into any of these traps?

Here are the most common mistakes:

• Targeting volume over the right accounts: chasing leads at all costs, without considering their quality or strategic potential, is a waste of time and resources.
• Producing content unusable for sales or tenders: content that is not designed as a practical tool for sales teams or for RFP responses remains a stylistic exercise with no real impact.
• Failing to connect CRM, automation, and content: working in silos, with non-integrated tools and data, prevents any holistic view and any effective optimization of the customer journey.
• Ignoring institutional dynamics in B2G: applying the same strategies as in B2B to the public sector, without understanding its regulatory, political, and decision-making specificities, inevitably leads to failure.
• Working in silos without alignment with sales: operational marketing that does not maintain constant interaction with sales teams is disconnected from field realities and revenue objectives.

These mistakes significantly reduce the real impact of your marketing and turn a potential growth lever into a simple cost center. It is time to correct them and unlock the full potential of your operational marketing.

The 5 key questions to evaluate your B2B/B2G operational marketing in 2026

To make this article truly actionable, we propose a mini-framework based on five essential questions. They will help you assess the maturity and effectiveness of your B2B/B2G operational marketing in light of the challenges of 2026. Take a moment to reflect on them:

1. ABM alignment: can I link each marketing program to a specific set of target accounts (ABM) and measure its direct impact on those accounts?
2. Content usage: are my contents actually used by sales teams to support proposals, tenders, customer decision journeys, and executive committees?
3. Deal visibility: does my CRM allow me to see which deals were influenced by operational marketing and to attribute a share of revenue to its actions?
4. AI innovation: am I using AI beyond writing LinkedIn posts? For example, is it used for conversational agents, predictive scoring, or orchestrating complex customer journeys?
5. Trust strategy: do I have a clear and differentiated trust strategy (references, brand, proof) across my target market segments?

These questions are a starting point for a strategic reflection on the evolution of your B2B/B2G operational marketing. They will help you identify priority areas for improvement and turn your marketing into a true growth engine.ine.

Conclusion: toward operational marketing directly connected to revenue

In technical B2B and B2G markets, operational marketing must be directly connected to the business. It is no longer a support function, but a growth partner closely aligned with the company’s revenue objectives. It becomes:

• A powerful influence tool upstream of complex sales cycles.
• A decision accelerator in environments where trust and proof are critical.
• A direct and essential support for sales teams, equipping them with the right content and strategies.

The most successful companies in 2026 will be those that succeed in:

• Aligning content, sales, and data within an integrated RevOps approach.
• Structuring their expertise to turn it into pedagogy and proof.
• Targeting the right accounts with precision through ABM.
• Orchestrating long-term influence programs, far beyond one-off campaigns.

In this new model, the fundamental question is no longer: “How many leads have we generated?” but rather: “How many opportunities have we truly advanced and converted into revenue?” It is by answering this question that your operational marketing fully reveals its value as a driver of growth.ing this question that your operational marketing will prove its value and become an essential pillar of your success.

A more difficult to define perimeter

The situation is very different in the technology company, for several reasons:

• Marketing in its principles, concepts, tools and means of action is generally less familiar, less well known and less well understood in technology by teams composed mainly of engineers and technicians.
• It is also less valued than anything else in technology
• The profound difference between consumer markets and B2B/B2G technology markets means that marketing is sometimes dismissed as irrelevant to technology, sometimes to the point of being called irrelevant:
  • fundamental issues for B2B are almost absent from consumer marketing, even if B2B (non-high-tech) marketing addresses some of them: key account and customer portfolio management, product co-development, business development, the importance of the internal part of the product life cycle, government or defence markets, direct technical promotion to customers.
  • Conversely, certain communication, influence and mass promotion techniques, which are vital and widely used in B2C, are of little or no relevance in B2B and even less so in high-tech B2B/B2G
• The mix between ‘product innovation’ and ‘marketing innovation’ is very different between the two worlds: there are of course B2C companies or B2C divisions of both B2B and B2C companies built around product innovation (3M, Dyson, Apple, Michelin or Loreal are examples) but a very large number of ‘innovations’ in B2C are more ‘marketing innovations’ related to packaging or branding than product innovations and even these are often minor product innovations
• To parody a famous phrase about war and the military, aren’t innovation, products and technology “too serious to be entrusted to marketers” … or at least let them get too involved?
• The tasks required by marketing in the technological world, especially product marketing, clearly require technical skills to be both effective and credible internally and externally. These skills are not initially possessed by pure marketers. Even if it is sometimes possible to bring pure marketers into the technical field, the reverse is more common. These tasks will therefore most often be entrusted to engineers who will acquire valuable dual skills over time.
• In project or product-project companies, project-related activities further distance the necessary marketing activities from the schemes proposed by mainstream marketing

Distinguish between marketing function and marketing management or department

As a result, in the technology:

• It is necessary, even more than elsewhere, to distinguish the “marketing function” (all the tasks to be carried out in the area of customer markets, products and competition and possibly projects) from the marketing department.
• Some of the marketing function’s activities in the area of customer markets, products and competition may legitimately be carried out by departments other than the marketing department: strategy management, technical management, sales management, corporate communication, etc.

In any technology company, this makes it difficult to define the exact scope of a marketing division or department and to position it within the organisation.

Marketing skills and marketing scope

This difficulty is compounded by the difficulty of finding men or women with marketing skills who are able to adapt them to operate in a technological world and be accepted as legitimate.

The scope and status of the marketing directorate or department (the name chosen being significant in itself) will depend to a large extent on the general management’s belief in marketing. This can lead to very different situations:

• The very word marketing to describe market, customer, product and competition strategies may be accepted or rejected
• The scope of a marketing department may
  • either cover responsibility for all marketing actions, both strategic and operational
  • or be confined to operational marketing and promotional and communication activities
  • either cover responsibility for products and processes linked to product marketing or be excluded in favour of other departments
• The status of the marketing directorate or department may be
  • either a strong status with participation in the management committee
  • or a weak status, with “serious matters”, especially technical matters, being the responsibility of other departments

Marketing tasks and marketing organisation in technology

As is most often the case in organisational matters, there is no right or wrong way to organise marketing in the technology company. There are, however, many, many ways in which the necessary tasks are not carried out. It is much more the way of functioning, the coordinations and the way in which important tasks are fulfilled that matters, rather than the structure adopted per se.

• The important thing is that the tasks of the “marketing function”, whether strategic or operational marketing, are clearly identified, adapted to the company’s business, coordinated with the other functions, and carried out effectively with clear responsibilities.
• In the end, it does not matter whether the marketing department is strong or weak, whether its scope is broad or limited:
  • in all cases, care must be taken to ensure that a minimum strategic and marketing culture is shared throughout the company, especially and including in the technical spheres, so that everyone can work together effectively and intelligently
  • if the marketing department is strong and has a broad scope, we will ensure that there is good understanding between the marketing department, the innovation department, the technical department and the sales department
  • if the marketing department is weak and has a limited scope, care will be taken to ensure that all strategic marketing tasks are properly identified and taken care of, regardless of where they are located, without there being any “holes in the carpet”, which is often the case in this situation.

It should be noted that:

• Products and offers can be standard or tailor-made, then developed or adapted for a particular client
• Offerings may consist of products only, services only or both products and services.
• Une offre peut être composée de produits et de services provenant d’une seule entreprise ou de différentes entreprises, la responsabilité du contrat étant alors prise par un « intégrateur » ou un « prime contractor »
• An offer may be made up of products and services from a single company or from different companies, with responsibility for the contract being taken on by an “integrator”.
• Many of these products and offers are marketed within the framework of “projects” (by tender, by consultation or by mutual agreement, depending on the importance of the project and whether it is private or public), “major projects” (a single project of very high value) or “programmes” (terminology often encountered in the defence sector and designating a set of coordinated projects)
• Depending on the time of use, some products or equipment are intended to be rented on a time-of-use basis rather than for use by a single end-customer (e.g. test benches, test equipment, simulators, wind tunnels). The developer of the product may be the lessor himself or he may sell it to a company which will itself lease it on a time-of-use basis.

Unlike B2C, the prices of products and offers are not limited by the consumer’s purchasing power. As a result, they offer much more advanced technologies than the consumer market and are often the “laboratories of the future”.

The recent ‘Perseverance’ landing on Mars, which amazed us all, is one example, but many of the equally remarkable technical feats of this universe are less publicised.

B2B / B2G high-tech products: some examples

• Civil and military aircraft and helicopters, launchers, civil or military satellites and associated equipment,
• Contactors, circuit breakers, electrical equipment
• Routers, radios, communication equipment on the ground or in space
• Optics and spectrum analysers for industry, laboratories, aeronautics and space
• Avionics suites
• Thermal camera
• New generation solvent or adhesive
• ABS, anti-collision or lane keeping systems
• Air passenger infotainment system
• Civil or military flight simulator
• Oil drilling head
• Screen for railway station or airport
• Passenger control gate
• Smart card
• Biometric passport
• Computer, UPS, computer storage equipment
• Tools for website creation, collaborative work, distance learning

B2B / B2G high-tech offers: some examples

Some examples of offers in high-tech B2B/B2G

• Turbine offer including spare parts, maintenance, updates and upgrades, associated data management
• Offer to secure an IT site
• Offer for the recovery of waste from an industrial site
• Pipeline control system
• Passenger information system for a railway station or airport
• Road traffic management system
• Military communications system
• Complete integrated enterprise messaging and collaboration system
• Complete secure identity management system

“Major projects” in high-tech B2B / B2G: some examples

Some examples of “major projects”

• Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest dam in China
• Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower in Dubai (828 metres)

Some examples of “major programmes”

• Military programmes for tanks, aircraft or helicopters
• SCAF Future Air Combat System (Franco-German)

It should be noted that, unlike the target marketing segments within the same activity, which differ mainly in the types of customers but share all the resources of the activity, the strategic segments (or DAS) on which the group operates are supposed to be independent of each other in terms of R&D, products, factories, etc. They are therefore largely independent activities, even if it may be decided to pool certain common resources at central level. They are therefore largely independent activities, even if it may be decided to pool certain common resources at central level. It therefore happens that one of these activities is sold or acquired with all its components as part of a corporate strategy decision aimed at reallocating growth vectors and allowing reinvestment in an existing activity or in an acquisition more in line with the group’s strategic objectives.

What is corporate strategy?

Investing or divesting

Corporate strategy consists essentially of allocating resources between the various business lines and organising possible synergies between them in order to achieve overall objectives and financial balance. It is therefore mainly a matter of deciding to invest or divest in each of the activities.

The main strategic portfolio analysis models, such as the Boston Consulting Group model (with the so-called “cash cow”, “star”, “dilemma” and “deadweight” businesses), or those of McKinsey or Arthur D. Little, were initially designed to inform investment and divestment decisions in corporate strategy. Little. For more information, we refer to each of these strategic analysis models which take into account variables such as relative market share or competitive position, the degree of maturity of a business line or its growth rate and make it possible to formulate strategic recommendations for the entire strategic portfolio and for each business line according to its position in one or other of the matrices using these variables.

The nature of the decisions

The corporate strategy therefore consists essentially of:

• To define the visions, missions and values of the company or “group” as well as its overall positioning.
• To optimise the allocation of resources between the different ‘businesses’ or SBAs in the interests of growth, profitability (and share price if the group is listed on the stock exchange).
• To enter new SBAs or to exit them through acquisitions or disposals. If financial resources are sufficient (and if an interesting target business is for sale, which is not always the case), it will be much quicker to build or strengthen a strategic position through acquisition than through creation or internal growth.
• Take and execute “major decisions” on matters that may be of interest to several or all of the company’s or group’s businesses. These “heavy decisions” can only be reversed at the cost of “strategic reorientations”, which are sometimes painful and costly.

Corporate strategy in technology

The same principles can be found in the corporate strategies of most groups, regardless of their sector of activity.

In technology, the specificity of companies or groups in this area is essentially due to the technological nature of the activities sold or acquired, as well as the extreme attention paid to decisions concerning technologies and technological synergies between activities.

The main objective of corporate strategy decisions in technology is to allocate available or divested financial resources in the best possible way in order to build businesses that are strong enough to prevail over the competition today or tomorrow. Unlike the B2C world where market/brand logic frequently guides decisions, it is essentially market/technology logic that is at work in technology.

Depending on the internal organisation of a given group, all the functions may be decentralised in the activities or some may be centralised with a relay in each activity. For example, at the central level, there could be business intelligence, R&T, strategy, product and HR functions that coordinate each function and establish common rules, and the same functions replicated in each activity.

Corporate strategy: acquisitions and disposals

Acquisitions and disposals of activities are frequent in the framework of the corporate strategy of groups. As an example, we can cite some of them in 2022 in the particularly active IT sector

(source: https://storybee.fr/blog/donn%C3%A9es-plus-grosses-acquisitions-technologiques-2022)

• Google buys Siemplify for $500m
• Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion
• Sony buys US game developer Bungie for $3.6bn
• Intel buys Tower Semiconductor for $5.4bn
• Apple acquires fintech startup Credit Kudos
• HP acquires Poly for $1.7 billion
• AMD acquires Pensando for $1.9 billion
• Broadcom acquires VMware for $61 billion
• Oracle acquires Cerner for $28 billion
• Amazon acquires One Medical for $3.9 billion
• SandboxAQ acquires Cryptosense

These client projects bring specificities both in terms of marketing (project marketing) and in terms of commercial activity (project business).

• For example, how do you analyse a market in which there are no repeat sales of products to recurring customers but only isolated projects, where sometimes there are no projects for several years?
• Or how do you organise yourself to capture projects efficiently when most customers have no projects planned?

Project markets

Many B2B/B2G markets, not all of which are high-tech markets, operate wholly or partly on a project basis: in the construction industry, for example, which operates mainly on a project basis, repairing a section of buried pipe is a small project, just as building a large dam or a large tunnel is a large project.

There are IT projects, defence projects and even programmes (series of projects), electrical installation projects and maintenance projects. The satellite market, to take another example, is typically a project-based market.

Some projects are standard projects, others are completely tailor-made. In fact, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between a project and a very large one-off product order, as the two can look very similar. The purchase of 30 Airbus aircraft by an airline gives rise to a competition that is very similar to a project competition.

Sale of projects

The sale of projects is characterised by a consultation (or call for tender) launched sometimes in several stages by a client with all or some of the companies in the sector and to which several companies respond. At the end of a more or less long and more or less defined process, a single company will win the project and will be responsible for its implementation.

A small project may be awarded very quickly and almost by mutual agreement, while a large project such as a high-speed train, for example, will be awarded after an “obstacle course” lasting several months or even years and after several stages of gradual selection of potential suppliers leading to exclusive negotiation and then to a final negotiation with the winning company.

Selling by project is a particular and highly emotional exercise (will you win or lose this important or prestigious project for which you have worked so hard and so long to try to win it? ) which will require different practices and a different commercial organisation from those of the simple recurrent sale of products.

If we make a quick description, the sale of projects will require successively:

• To detect projects as early as possible: arriving too late on a project will often mean that the technical or commercial groundwork has already been laid, running the risk of simply “playing the hare” to give the client a basis for technical or price comparison and to enable him to negotiate better with a supplier he has in fact already chosen.
• Decide whether or not the project detected will be followed up
• To dialogue with the client to understand the different dimensions of its needs: technical needs in terms of products and services according to its own conditions of use, economic and financial needs (including budget and allocation of expenditure lines), legal needs (contract clauses, e.g. liability or intellectual property clauses), possibly needs in terms of project management, local production or technology transfer
• Decide internally whether or not to make an offer for reasons that may be technical, economic, legal, availability of resources to carry out the work or internal authorisation
• Decide which of several possible response strategies will be used depending on the unknowns of the likely competitors, the nature and possible price of their responses
• Mobilise an internal team to draft the various aspects of the bid
• Sometimes test the bid internally in front of a different team (“red team”) playing the role of the client
• Present and explain the offer to the client, alone or in a team
• Negotiate the offer with the client
• Write the final offer and negotiate it again
• Validate all the clauses of the contract and sign it or have it signed by the hierarchy
• Explain what has been negotiated to the team in charge of implementation, which will usually be different from the project capture team, in order to avoid a possible breach of trust with the client during implementation.

The second part of the adventure will then begin: the realisation of the project, which may hold many surprises and technical or financial hazards. It will then be a matter of carrying out the project to the client’s satisfaction (so as to be consulted the next time with a certain advantage over the competition) and to achieve the projected margin calculated at the time of signing.

We can see that selling projects is a specific exercise requiring very specific individual and collective skills.

It is also an exercise in which winning a prestigious or important contract in the face of competition brings satisfaction commensurate with the disappointments encountered when contracts are lost and brings a certain amount of internal notoriety to the team that has operated.

Like any commercial activity, it leads to the monitoring of a certain number of performance indicators such as the cost of bids and the ratio between proposals submitted and business won (“hit rate”).

They will also seek to understand the causes of success with a view to improvement. The same will sometimes be true of the causes of failure, but there will be more reluctance to explore them, as no one wants to risk being held accountable.

The financing of innovative projects can be classified in different ways: according to the sources of financing, according to the modalities, according to the companies and the projects they address.

The main sources of funding for innovation are shareholders and equity (self-financing), lenders, national public structures or bodies, funding by European or global structures or bodies, partial or total funding by customers.

Each funding source will agree to fund different activities for different amounts and will subject applications to its own procedures before selection and acceptance.

Without claiming to be exhaustive on the subject, we can list

• Contributions of funds from the first circle of shareholders of a startup: “love money
• Honorary loans from specialised organisations
• Subsidies, recoverable advances and interest-free loans (from BPI France for example)
• Fiscal and social aid such as the CIR (research tax credit) and the CII (innovation tax credit) in France
• Bank financing
• European funding for innovation
• Opening up capital by calling on business angels, seed capital, venture capital

It should also be mentioned that in the B2B/B2G high-tech sector, many innovative projects and products are financed by the clients themselves or co-financed with the clients. This type of financing, which is common in large groups, makes it possible either to finance or co-finance a specific project of interest to a single client or to pool development costs between the company and several of its clients, sometimes over successive projects. This particular method of financing or co-financing obviously involves negotiations, often arduous, on intellectual property.

• A strategic vision at different levels for market strategy, product strategy and if necessary project strategy: e.g. product, product line, key account, market segment, global market levels
• Coordination between technical and non-technical activities
• investments in the medium term and money available in the short term.

Essential coordination with major internal processes

As such, they are not “weightless” but must be coordinated with several of the company’s “major processes”, whose periodic elaboration or revision punctuates the annual calendar and deadlines of each company with variable periodicity.

Indeed, there is no question (or should not be) of entering a new market or developing and launching a new product if this does not correspond to the company’s strategy, if the necessary investment, which may be multi-year, has not been foreseen, if the necessary expenditure in the year has not been budgeted, etc.

Depending on the company, its size and its internal processes, this coordination may be carried out in a different way or at different levels, but it will be carried out simultaneously at least with the strategic plan, the plans for the technical sphere (research/innovation plan, technical product development plans), the investment plan and the budget. It may also involve the commercial forecasts if certain contracts involve technical developments.

Other coordinations, for example with the human resources plan, the industrial plan or the IT plan, can also have a significant impact on the possibilities for action in terms of competing products and markets. They may concern the availability of technical or service resources in terms of volume and skills, the availability of industrial resources to carry out tests or increase production capacity, and the possibilities of the IT system to offer computerised services to customers.

• With the strategic plan (often three-year), the aim is to ensure that the product/market/competition actions envisaged are consistent with the company strategy.
• With the investment plan, it will be ensured that the necessary investments have been planned and scheduled on a multi-year basis
• with the annual budget, that the necessary expenditure for the year is budgeted
• With the technical plan(s), it will be necessary to ensure that the necessary technologies are available, that the availability of products and their evolutions is planned with the level of performance required to outperform the competition, within a timeframe that will allow the product to reach the market on time and with the required level of quality (coordination with the quality plan(s)).
• Specifically for project-based companies integrating products into their projects, it will be necessary to coordinate the product development process with the project capture process to prevent projects with their “tailor-made” dimension from causing the products to drift too far away from the guideline assigned to them so that they remain suitable for the market as a whole and not just for one or more particular projects.

All of these coordinations are essential with the company’s major processes, both to integrate the market, product and competition strategies into the company’s or activity’s overall strategy and to give them the resources and means to be implemented in practice.

• The very large size of large groups whose names the general public barely knows, unlike B2C companies, which are much smaller but whose commercial brands are known to everyone
• the very large number of SMEs in most sectors of activity, most often totally unknown, whether or not they gravitate towards the large groups

Characteristics of high-tech B2B / B2G companies

• Advanced technologies
• Professional or government markets
• Significant technical investment to develop products and offerings
• Technically oriented culture and management

These are the characteristics most often found in B2B/B2G high-tech companies, often combined with international competition, locations in many countries and project activities.

High-tech B2B/B2G: little known companies

Large groups, ETIs, small companies or technological start-ups whose names are known only to specialists but which are leaders in their market, public and private research laboratories, supervisory bodies, control, regulation or certification, etc.: the B2B/B2G high-tech universe weighs heavily on the economy and employment.

However, B2B/B2G high-tech companies are generally very little known outside their sphere of activity. Either the general public does not know the small or medium-sized companies at all, or it knows the large groups only by name or through one of their activities or one of their emblematic products: if we take the aeronautics sector as an example, the general public rarely knows that Latecoere is a major player in aerostructures and employs more than 5000 people. Everyone knows about Airbus and Dassault Aviation, but who knows about all the activities of the Airbus group or the Dassault group? Many people would be hard pressed to describe the activities of the Safran group (77,000 employees and a turnover of 15.3 billion euros in 2021) or the Thales group (81,000 employees in 68 countries and over 16 billion euros in 2021)!

Common features of high-tech B2B / B2G companies

Regardless of the industry, there are common traits in all B2B/B2G high-tech companies, regardless of the markets and customers they serve, and regardless of the products and offerings they provide. The mix of traits may vary, but all these “engineering companies”, as they are sometimes called, have many common characteristics.

Specific clients: organisations

First of all, their customers are organisations, whether public or private, and not final consumers, even though they may exceptionally also sell on the final market, for example for spare parts. This will therefore lead these companies, like any B2B/B2G company, to practice a particular management of their customer portfolio. This will range from “major accounts” to smaller customers, since these customers may be a small number of major accounts and/or a larger number of medium-sized customers and/or a large number of small customers.

The relationship with client organisations is therefore both complex and vital. This relationship will need to be as individualised as possible, both with each client and with each type of decision maker or influencer in the client organisation. The relationship may go as far as co-financing and joint development of products, including or not sharing intellectual property.

Technological products and offers

They are then companies whose products and offers are technological, the technological level ranging from proven technologies to highly innovative technologies and/or competing with the world’s innovation elite in a given sector. This will induce both close contacts with research laboratories and a legitimate obsession, a specific organisation and a particular need for funding for innovation. It will also frequently lead to significant time, cost and risk associated with product development that must be mastered.

These products will generally have a long life on the market. As products and offers are constantly compared with those of other companies, all of the above will lead to a great deal of attention being paid to innovation, to the allocation of resources between products and to all the stages of their life cycle.

Of course, as in any business, this will require effort:

• Competitiveness
• Quality of customer service
• Promotion
• Communication

A technical culture

Finally, B2B/B2G high-tech companies obviously have a strong predominance of technical culture (as well as financial culture) and engineers at the highest levels of the organisation. This is both a valuable asset and a challenge that they will have to overcome compared to less technological or B2C companies.

Business and marketing culture is often less widespread than technical culture. They will have to balance technical culture and marketing culture in order to find a delicate balance between what the technique offers or can do and what the market and customers demand. This balance is often called the “techno-push” and “market pull” balance.

In addition to this first balance, if the company sells projects that include products, another balance must be found between the requirements of the projects (detect them, capture them, win them and, above all, carry them out with satisfactory profitability) and the requirements of repeatability and competitiveness of the products.

Service or construction companies

Service or “works” companies have a very technical culture but are more markedly “field”, and are proud of it. They belong to the high-tech B2B world for several reasons:

They are also generally engineering-led companies, although there are a large number of technicians or field operators.
Even if they are not responsible for the design (if the service is not integrated by the designer, which is often the case), they have experience of the product “in service” and provide valuable feedback for the next generation of products.
Their role is essential to keep highly technological products and solutions “in operation”. For example, it is prestigious to design an aircraft but the role of the aircraft maintenance company is vital to ensure that it does not become unsafe or grounded.

Examples of B2B / B2G high-tech companies

Let’s take a few examples of companies to get a better idea of what a high-tech B2B/B2G company can be. There are obviously a multitude of companies in the various technological sectors in Europe, the USA, the Middle East, Asia, etc. We will take just a few examples here to give an idea of their variety, bearing in mind that large companies are often the “principals” (and sometimes the buyers) of smaller companies within their sector.

A few examples of large companies and groups known in France, linked to their best-known sector of activity.

• Aerospace Defence: Airbus, Boeing, Dassault Aviation, Safran, Thales, BAE systems, Lockheed Martin, United Technologies (Sikorski helicopters), Raytheon (missiles), Textron (Bell helicopters and Cessna business aircraft), General Dynamics, Rockwell Collins
• Land and naval platforms: Alstom, Naval Group
• Electrical equipment, energy management and industrial automation: Schneider Electric, GE
• Automotive equipment: Valeo, Faurecia
• Electronic components: Intel, TSM,
• Professional IT (Hardware, software, Services): Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Atos, Samsung, Huawei, AT&T
• Materials: Lafarge Holcim, Solvay
• Construction: Vinci, Bouygues

Some examples of TMEs

• Latecoere (aerostructures and interconnecting systems)
• Airplane Delivery (aeronautical maintenance)
• Daher (aircraft manufacturer, industrial equipment and services)
• Liebherr (aeronautical and railway systems)
• Scopelec (telecommunication integrator)
• Slack technologies (internal instant messaging, video conferencing, intelligent productivity robots)

Some examples of SMEs and technology start-ups (usually only known in their sector of activity)

• Visual Sound, Inc: Touch Screens – Interactive Display System
• AMETEK Land: Thermal imagers
• MAVERICK Technologies: Automation Control Design and Installation Services
• Modern Intelligence (Maritime Surveillance)
• Neuron soundware (intelligent system for detecting mechanical problems on machines)
• Customer Clever (facial recognition for ticket gates)
• Naarea (molten salt nuclear reactor, so-called “fourth generation” nuclear technology)
• Meshmerize (German startup, industrial quality wireless mesh network for autonomous drones or connected cars)
• numerous electrical and electronic installation companies
• a large number of IT services companies

These technologies are therefore sometimes used in products for defence markets with their own requirements, and sometimes used in products for civilian markets. It is clear that not all companies, although some sometimes do, use the same technology to design and offer both civil and military products, but the technology behind different products can often be applied in both areas. Not all technologies are dual but this duality is common.

It should be noted that the scope of dual-use technologies has been increased by the growing complexity of military means of communication, coordination and decision-making, as well as by the extension of the notion of “battlefield” with the concepts of “hybrid warfare” and “space warfare”. Dual technologies are now applied, for example, to different types of UAVs and their coordination with more traditional military means, to data and transmission security, and to many space technologies.

This extension of the scope is not without some internal upheaval within companies, particularly American “big tech” companies, whose initial vocation was to work for the civilian world, and whose certain divisions are gradually finding themselves working for the defense world as well.

Even if they are not strictly speaking military in the sense of being used in a theater of operations, many similar technologies can be found in the “governmental” sector more generally and in areas such as critical infrastructure protection, data security, sovereign clouds, the fight against crime or industrial espionage, etc.

The consequences

The same component may be used in a civilian product and in a military product with different performance or quality specifications. These components are often referred to as “hardened” to withstand the more demanding military use. At the same time, a more demanding quality control will ensure that no part is defective.

• A similar phenomenon can be found in ‘certified’ parts intended for aeronautics, which must be free of quality defects and at the same time withstand the stresses, particularly vibrations, associated with parts used in flight.
• Similarly, components intended for space use must be able to withstand the temperature, pressure and radiation stresses associated with flight in orbit, for example.

For a long time, defence products were developed according to strictly military specifications. But due to both the cost of specific developments and the progress made by the civilian world, defence products and solutions are increasingly using elements, products or services from the civilian world.

New competitive landscapes

The main consequence is that the competitive landscape is often disrupted, with:

• Established competitors from the civilian world (especially from the computer and telecommunications worlds) who position themselves on defence markets where they did not previously operate. This movement is frequently encouraged, albeit with different roles, by the innovation agencies of the defence sector (such as DARPA in the USA) or the design/expertise/test/engineering offices (such as the DGA in France) which no longer wish to finance product development in its entirety. They therefore encourage (or even require) suppliers to use civilian components or elements that have sometimes reached a degree of reliability compatible with military requirements (electronics, computing, telecommunications in particular).
  
• New competitors, start-ups or companies sometimes supported by government agencies, which are positioning themselves in areas previously reserved for traditional companies. One of the most striking examples is Space X, which in 20 years has become a key player in the aerospace sector, competing with NASA and Arianespace in the launcher market.

Conversely, civilian markets benefit from innovations that were initially conceived and funded by the defence community. There are many examples. For example:

• Digital camera technology was originally developed for the first spy satellites.
• Before they could identify agricultural irrigation needs or monitor the condition of a building more efficiently and, above all, less expensively than human inspection, aerial drones were conceived as unmanned vehicles (UAVs) designed, in particular, to monitor battlefields. The UAV adventure continues with maritime or submarine drones or even land-based drones for inspection in dangerous, explosive, chemical or radioactive environments.
• Blood transfusion techniques were initially developed to save lives on the battlefield
• Night vision technologies, which are even installed in modern car cameras to improve safety, were developed for military purposes.
• Weather radar, which can now study data, detect and decipher weather conditions and even predict the weather in a given area, also originated from defence needs.
• Other examples include the microwave oven, duct tape, freeze-drying, the computer, the synthetic rubber tyre, superglue, GPS and many others past, present and future.

We can see that the defence world has always created technological innovations for its own needs, and that many of these innovations, used and adapted by companies, have benefited the civilian world and even our daily lives.

The question of funding

One of the key issues is obviously the funding of such innovations by public ‘agencies’. The American DARPA devotes an annual budget of nearly 3 billion US dollars to financing military innovations with possible spinoffs for civilian use. Elon Musk, for example, has benefited greatly from such funding for his Space X rocket project.

European and French funding exists but is much more modest. This point, associated of course with the “innovation ecosystems” associating the public and private sectors (laboratories, networks, financiers at different stages of development, start-ups), remains a major challenge for the sectors and technologies of the future, particularly green technologies.

It is important that funding and innovation ecosystems, both European and national, exist on a sufficient scale if we want to avoid these sectors of the future being massively colonised and dominated by American or Chinese companies, as has been the case in the past in the IT sector (computer hardware, information technology, data).

In B2B/B2G high-tech, on the other hand, each market associated with a major sector of activity (such as aeronautics, automotive equipment, energy, space, construction or defence) constitutes a particular “market ecosystem” with many interacting and constantly evolving players.

Frequent players in technology markets

Let us list some of these frequently encountered actors:

• Public or private, civil or military customers who can validate technology, product or solution, service or transaction model choices
• cCustomer customers who can influence the behaviour of the direct customer
• End-users of the products at the customer’s premises (e.g. pilot users of the systems)
• Internal influencers and influencers at the customer’s end
• Organisations associated with a particular sector in export countries: government, administrations, local industry
• Competitors who can influence technical solutions, offers, prices, launch or kill innovations, disrupt the market
• National or European bodies responsible for leading and coordinating major projects (e.g. ESA)
• Public bodies likely to assess or support projects, companies or sectors at local, regional or national level (e.g. regions, national or global competitiveness clusters)
• Public or private, national or European funders responsible for financing innovation or projects
• Regulatory bodies responsible for defining the rules applicable to other players
• Certification bodies responsible for certifying products or procedures
• Civil or military design offices responsible for conducting project studies and specifying them in varying degrees of detail
• Economic experts in the sector
• Technological experts in the sector

All or some of these actors are frequently found in each “market ecosystem”.

As a result, knowing a B2B/high-tech market means identifying the influential players, understanding their role and objectives, and understanding how they influence or shape the market in the future.

Such knowledge is often a matter of years of practice in a given profession and environment, of personal knowledge, of involvement in a given environment. This explains why specialists in a high-tech B2B/B2G market, whether they are technical, economic or other specialists, generally have many years of practice and skills acquired over time. They are therefore not easily interchangeable and usually evolve for several years in the same technological and economic environment, even if they sometimes have to change companies or organisations.