If you work in B2B sales, marketing, or go-to-market ops, you know that not all “enterprise accounts” are worth your time—especially when it comes to cloud adoption. Maybe you sell cloud software, or your product only makes sense if a company’s already using AWS or Azure. Either way, you need to separate the real prospects from the dead ends. This guide walks you through how to do exactly that using Hginsights, a tool that promises to help you see who’s actually using which cloud platforms. I’ll show you what’s useful, what’s fluff, and how to get the most out of your segmentation process.
Why Bother Segmenting by Cloud Adoption?
Let’s get real: not every “enterprise” is a good fit for your cloud product or service. Some are still running on 90s-era on-prem stuff. Others claim to be “cloud-first” but barely have a Dropbox account. If you’re just blasting your message to everyone with a Fortune 1000 logo, you’re wasting time.
Segmenting by cloud adoption isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about not annoying people who will never buy. It helps you:
- Prioritize accounts where you actually stand a chance.
- Customize outreach based on what they’re really using—not what their press release says.
- Avoid talking to companies who are stuck in the past (and likely to stay there).
Step 1: Define Your Segmentation Goals
Before you open any tool, get a handle on what you’re trying to sort out. Are you:
- Looking for companies using AWS (or Azure, GCP, etc.)?
- Trying to find those using multiple clouds (multi-cloud)?
- Wanting to target late adopters who still haven’t made the jump?
Be specific. “Cloud adoption” can mean a dozen different things. If sales wants to target AWS-heavy shops and marketing cares about companies moving to the cloud for the first time, you’ll need different filters.
Pro tip: Write out your “ideal customer” in plain language—e.g., “US-based enterprises spending $1M+ on AWS, not using Azure, in finance.” This keeps your filters honest.
Step 2: Prep Your Account List (Or Start from Scratch)
Some folks start with a target account list (TAL) from Salesforce or Outreach. Others want to build a list from the ground up. Either way works with Hginsights, but starting with your own TAL is usually faster if you’ve already got one.
- If you have a list: Export it (CSV is fine), making sure you have company name and website at minimum.
- If you don’t: You can search within Hginsights by industry, size, geography, and more to build a new list.
What not to stress about: Don’t waste hours cleaning your list for perfection. Hginsights will match companies based on domain and name, and you can always fix errors later.
Step 3: Get Cloud Adoption Data from Hginsights
Here’s where Hginsights actually earns its keep: it claims to show you which cloud platforms a company is using, plus spend estimates and tech stack details. In practice, you’ll get data that’s directionally accurate—good for segmenting, not for betting your house on.
How the Data Works
- Detection methods: Hginsights uses web crawls, job postings, digital exhaust, and other signals. It’s not 100% perfect, but it’s usually better than guessing.
- Coverage: Big accounts (think Fortune 2000) are well covered. Smaller or international companies get patchier.
- Timeliness: Data can lag by months. Don’t assume a “cloud migration in progress” from last quarter is still happening.
How to Pull the Data
- Upload or select your accounts in Hginsights.
- Choose your cloud tech fields: Look for filters like “Public Cloud Provider,” “Cloud Spend Estimate,” “Cloud Workloads Detected,” etc.
- Apply filters for the platforms you care about (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP). You can get granular—like AWS Lambda vs. just “AWS.”
- Export results if you want to work in Excel or your CRM.
Watch out for: False positives (e.g., a company using AWS for a single dev tool, not core infrastructure) and false negatives (cloud usage not detected due to stealthy IT ops).
Step 4: Build Practical Segments
Now that you’ve got the raw data, it’s time to actually segment your accounts. Don’t overthink this—three to five segments is plenty for most teams.
Segment Examples
- Cloud-Native: Heavy spend on public cloud, lots of advanced services (Kubernetes, serverless, etc.).
- Cloud Adopters: Using cloud for core workloads, but still running some stuff on-prem.
- Late Majority: Dipping their toes in; maybe a few SaaS tools, but most infra is legacy.
- Multi-Cloud: Actively using more than one public cloud provider.
- Cloud Laggards: No detectable cloud usage.
How to Decide Where Each Account Fits:
- Look at spend estimates for each provider.
- Check for advanced services (beyond basic storage/compute).
- Review timelines—have they recently increased spend or added new cloud tech?
- Use your own sales intel to sanity-check the data.
Pro tip: Don’t treat the data as gospel. If an account looks “cloud-native” in Hginsights but your rep says they’re struggling with basic AWS, trust the rep.
Step 5: Sync Segments Back to Your Systems
No point in making segments if they just sit in a spreadsheet. Push them where your teams work.
- CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.): Add fields for “Cloud Adoption Segment” so reps can sort and filter.
- Marketing automation: Sync segments to trigger tailored campaigns (e.g., don’t send “migrate to cloud” messaging to cloud-native accounts).
- Reporting: Track how different segments respond over time. If all your pipeline is coming from one segment, refocus.
What to ignore: Don’t bother with 15 different segments. Nobody uses them all, and they’ll just get stale.
Step 6: Use Segments to Prioritize and Personalize
Here’s where the magic actually happens:
- Sales: Focus first on accounts in the “Cloud-Native” or “Cloud Adopter” groups—they’re more likely to buy, and your messaging will land.
- Marketing: Craft messaging that matches reality. Don’t pitch basic “Why cloud?” content to advanced users.
- Partnerships: If you see a partner’s tech in use (e.g., AWS AND Snowflake), consider joint campaigns.
What doesn’t work: Generic outreach. If you still send “we help companies move to the cloud” emails to everyone, you’re missing the point of this whole exercise.
Step 7: Keep It Updated (But Don’t Obsess)
Cloud adoption moves fast, but not overnight. Plan to refresh your Hginsights data every quarter or so. Any faster and you’ll burn cycles chasing minor changes; any slower and you’ll miss big shifts.
- Automate updates if your CRM connects to Hginsights.
- Spot check key accounts before major outreach.
- Don’t panic over small discrepancies—look for trends, not one-off changes.
Honest Take: Where Hginsights Shines (and Where It Doesn’t)
What works: - Decent coverage for big, public companies—especially US-based. - Good for identifying “cloud” vs. “not cloud” in broad strokes. - Useful for sales/marketing alignment on who to target and how.
What’s iffy: - Data freshness can lag, especially for fast-growing companies. - Some service usage is hard to detect (private cloud, hybrid setups). - Small or international companies may have spotty data.
What to ignore: - Don’t base your whole GTM strategy on these segments alone. Use them as a starting point, not a final answer. - Ignore vanity metrics—focus on segments that actually convert.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
You don’t need a thousand filters or a PhD in cloud to make this work. Start with broad segments, see what lands, and adjust as you learn. The best segmentation is the one your team actually uses, not the prettiest spreadsheet. Keep it simple, stay skeptical of the data, and don’t be afraid to make changes as you go. That’s how you win at account segmentation—no buzzwords required.