How can Market & Competitive Intelligence make your business more strategic, more competitive, and more profitable: by being able to see more of what’s all around you so you can make better decisions about what just happened, what’s likely to happen next, and what to do about it

Market intelligence is the systematic process of gathering, analyzing, supplying and applying information (both qualitative and quantitative) about the external market environment. Here are some major definitions of classical business intelligence elements any organization might consider.

Competitive Intelligence is an integral part of the business decision-making process and helps to achieve and maintain competitive leadership. It develops understanding, creates insight and drives action for general management and individual business function leadership (e.g., strategy, marketing, sales, technology development, finance, human resources, etc.). Competitive Intelligence professionals identify competitive trends, provide early warning on threats and opportunities in the evolving competitive landscape and evaluate their impact. They help decision-makers understand the competitive implications of current and potential decisions and drive action across the company through timely, impactful deliverables.

Market Analysis provides thought leadership and timely, actionable market insights, derived from the analysis of market research, marketplace data, and expert opinion, in order to drive informed executive decision-making, both within and across business units and functions.

Market Data Analysis provides a strategic competitive advantage converting the vast amounts of available data, in multiple internal and external databases, into actionable information. They apply statistical techniques and behavioral analysis such as database analytics, predictive modeling and scoring, and data mining to address strategic business issues such as coverage strategies, channel resource allocations and opportunity close rates. They are also responsible for developing standards for deployment and execution of analytic models, and linking with development teams in the requirements for analytic databases and tools.

These professionals make marketing campaigns happen; they are the engines that drive revenue generation by turning the strategy into action by melding customer and prospect information with offering/solution information and other market and business data to select the customers and prospects with the highest probability of buying our goods and services. Done incorrectly – we offend customers and prospects, burns through a lot of campaign dollars, and generates no revenue. Done properly, the right offerings are provided to the right customers and prospects at the right time.

Market Data Strategy consults with the Marketing Management, Sales and Integrated Marketing Communications functions in the strategic use of the database marketing principles of segmentation, targeting, list selection, testing and analysis to achieve their business objectives and to improve the effectiveness of their marketing and sales programs. With an understanding of the business objectives of their assigned segment, the market data strategist leverages customer, prospect and marketplace information to conduct analysis and make recommendations on marketing strategies, targets and tactics. The Market Data Strategy specialty is where the marketing strategy is turned into actionable direct marketing plans. Theoretical notions about how customers and prospects buy, select vendors, select solutions, and prefer delivery of solutions, all come to life through the efforts of the Market Data Strategy professional.

Market Opportuity Analysis is concerned with the acquisition, codification, analysis and presentation of market information that describes and predicts the size, distribution and growth of  the market opportunity. The opportunity analyst provides this understanding by analyzing customer/market buying behavior and spending on the demand-side as well as our and competitor revenue on the supply-side within the unit’s key market segments. They analyze market, customer, competitor and economic trends and forecasts, and use that information to formulate hypotheses about the parameters that drive demand within their market segments. They build opportunity models that generate opportunity estimates and forecasts based on key parameters such as historic buying patterns, projected industry trends and economic forecasts. Their analyses, models and the estimates are used to help shape and drive business development decisions regarding our – by segment - coverage strategy, market selection, revenue and market share performance objectives, and compensation.

It conducts customized primary research to address specific information needs that will be used in business planning to help us gain or maintain a competitive advantage. Primary Researchers team with other Market Intelligence professionals to ensure all primary research efforts fit into a larger, holistic research model that provides an efficient approach to gathering market data and business information. Working with the business unit executive sponsor, Primary Researchers collect and evaluate all appropriate, available business data and primary and secondary research, and determine if new primary research should be conducted to answer the sponsor’s specific questions. Primary Research can determine ours and competitors positions in the market, and identify relationships between them on a wide variety of aspects, such as product characteristics, pricing, brand image, buyer behavior, ease of use, commitment, customer satisfaction, etc. This information can be used in business planning to help gain or maintain a competitive advantage. Primary Researchers identify and validate with the sponsor, the key business question to be addressed. They select the proper research methodology, identify the appropriate data sources, design and execute the proper data analyses, derive the most impactful recommendations, and determine the most effective way to present the results and recommendations.

The Secondary Research specialty is an integral part of Market & Competitive Intelligence and the business-decision making process and helps us to achieve and maintain competitive leadership. Secondary Researchers act as the focal point for the business unit marketing and sales teams, and executive management by providing tailored, proactive research and information services.

Make your sales force and marketing the smartest and quickest customer supporter Market and customer orientation - promote external focus.

Defining top level goals for the market intelligence effort and systems is of material importance in terms of internal selling and to be able to work towards maximum delivery. In the end: the result as value in use will determine acceptance and usefulness for marketers and sales staff.

As many business functions and operations the intelligence discipline experiences evolutionary and developments.