When people make decisions they rely on gathering and analyzing information. If you plan on buying a new stereo, you want to make sure you make a good purchase. You want to compare product features on different models, prices in different stores, available support and warranty, what other customers have experienced using the product, and a host of other information. In short, the more information you can base your decision on, the less likely that your purchase will be a bad one.
For small decisions people can get by with less information. The bigger the decision, the more informed you want to be. Big decisions typically involve a higher level of risk, and you want to minimize that risk. So you gather relevant data and analyze it to improve the odds of a successful decision. For businesses, whose decisions have much larger impact than individual consumers’, this is even more important. Companies need not only information, but information put together in a manner that makes sense in the context of their decisions. They need Market Intelligence.
Market Intelligence is a collective term for information about a company’s environment, which is gathered, structured, analyzed and presented to decision-makers. In this environment we find competitors and their products, customers and their experiences, strategies, websites, regulations, innovation, and a host of other factors that influence the market- and ultimately business decisions.
Companies need to be aware of their surroundings to reduce risks and improve their likelihood of success. They need to know when competitors launch new products or change their strategies, when and how government regulations will affect the industry, how customers and other groups experience interacting with the company, how the company’s new website compares to the old one and to competitors’ websites, and the list goes on.
Why do companies need to know these things? Because if they don’t they are running their businesses based on random decision-making. That doesn’t sound good at all, but the truth is that many decisions are made on gut-feeling or very limited information. This might come as a surprise in an era when information is more available than ever before.
In fact some managers would argue that they don’t use Market Intelligence because they are too busy (too busy to make good decisions?). Or they say they don’t know where to start looking, and they could waste days without finding what they are looking for. And even if they do find something, they don’t have the proper systems and the continuity required to optimize the value of the information. In short, their Market Intelligence efforts are performed ad hoc, require a lot of resources, and the results can vary.
At the same time, these managers all realize the value of good information. They need to be able to provide the necessary data and analysis to back their decisions. This is especially important when businesses are facing reduced sales revenue and they can’t afford to make mistakes. That is when the value of Market Intelligence is truly appreciated.
So, if Market Intelligence is a requirement for good decisions, and it’s difficult to get it right for companies on their own… then what should they do? Here’s an idea. Maybe someone else can do it for them. Specifically, maybe we at MACAW research can do it. We work with Market Intelligence all the time and we know how to get it right. Go ahead, check out our website and drop us a line. We won’t bite.
http://www.macawresearch.com
