Description
Understanding Business Intelligence, Market Research and Competitive Intelligence
FEATURE ARTICLE
SUMMER 2009 A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
Trade Press Services presents Business Builders
Understanding Business
Intelligence, Market Research
and Competitive Intelligence
Intelligence, the outgrowth of processing vital information, is critical to the
success of every business in every industry. Sometimes, companies may not
understand the breadth and meaning of information that eventually becomes
intelligence. One notable example of this tendency is focusing on just one
component of information — the competition. Tis limited informational
perspective is inadequate for competing in today’s economy. What is needed
is a thorough understanding of three common forms of information: business
intelligence, market research and competitive intelligence. When gathered
and interpreted correctly, they ofer a sustainable competitive advantage.
Business Intelligence
Business intelligence (BI) is not as broad as the term implies. Rather, it rep-
resents an aggregate of various pieces of information including diverse items
such as customer preferences, buying habits and order sizes. It has much more
to do with data mining, data analytics and data management than creative
thinking or developing a visionary perspective that can be used to predict
the future. Yet, relying on data from the past or even the present to develop
tomorrow’s model may not be applicable to a future competitive environment.
While BI may even include information about competitors, no one should
conclude that this data is the most important weapon in a company’s arsenal.
Actually, it falls far short of what is required to compete globally.
Market Research
Market research statistically tells us where we’ve been or where we are. In ad-
dition to data mining and data management, primary market research em-
ploys a variety of tools to help a company fully understand its market and
customers. Primary research is capable of producing a highly critical assess-
ment and evaluation of past and current information. Neil Goldman, presi-
dent of Member Research, a California based frm that provides qualitative
and quantitative research to credit unions nationwide, ofers this perspective:
“In business, we have evolved from thinking of quality and service as being
unique selling propositions to recognizing the importance of our customers’
experience. How can we know this without market research?”
IN THIS ISSUE
• Feature Article
• TPS Marketing Tips
• Recommended Reading
• Business Resources
• Quarterly Quote -
“I Wish I Had Said Tat”
TPS WRITING SERVICES:
• Feature Articles
• Opinion Columns
• Success Stories
• White Papers
• Marketing Research
• Newsletters
• Books
• Memoirs
• Corporate Profles
• Grant Proposals
BUSINESS RESOURCES:
Many companies ofer expertise
in business intelligence, market
research and/or competitive
intelligence. Here are a few.
1. Member Research
www.memberresearch.com
2. Cipher
www.cipher-sys.com
3. Sharp Market Intelligence
www.sharpmarket.com
SUMMER 2009 / 2 BUSINESS BUILDERS
Unfortunately, undertaking prima-
ry research can be quite expensive,
most likely out of the range of many
start-ups or small companies with
limited budgets. Te alternative is
secondary market research, which
comes from information that has
already been published or data that
exists in other public sources. Mar-
ket research is statistically valid, but
its focus is limited to only the past
and the present.
Competitive Intelligence
Competitive intelligence (CI) is
more than its name implies and goes
beyond business intelligence and
market research. Cipher Systems,
a consulting frm, defnes CI on its
website as “an ethical gathering and
analysis of competitor and market
information from open sources.”
Market information, as used here, is
not an aferthought. Rather, it is the
forefront of information necessary
for compilation of a clearer picture
of the future marketplace.
“It’s looking at the entire competi-
tive business environment that im-
pacts your business. Competitors
are just a small piece,” says the pres-
ident of Sharp Market Intelligence,
Seena Sharp, a practitioner of intel-
ligence, research and analysis for 30
years. She recites a litany of factors
she believes are ofen overlooked.
“It’s what’s going on with custom-
ers, marketplace, suppliers, distrib-
utors, regulations and demograph-
ics,” Sharp says, “and don’t forget
industries that are indirectly related
to yours.”
Instead of limiting its conclusions
to previously acquired data, CI asks
questions about the marketplace,
products and services being devel-
oped or ofered, potential users and
future trends. Inherent in CI is a
recognition that past practices and
assumptions do not always make for
efective competitive intelligence.
Assumptions and Pitfalls
If CI were to have a mantra, it might
be “the past is not a predictor of the
future.” Tis credo may be outside
the realm of thinking for those who
rely on business assumptions in
drafing what they believe to be CI.
Tis information has to be external;
that is, going beyond the industry
into a seemingly unrelated environ-
ment that may impact it in the long
run.
Such thinking overlooks gaps in the
marketplace that can be exploited
especially when assumptions are
challenged. General Motors may
be the classic example of what
happens when companies ignore
competitors who take advantage
of those gaps that meet customer
needs. Even though foreign com-
petitors were developing more fuel-
efcient vehicles including hybrids,
GM ignored the warning signs and
focused on sport utility vehicles
(SUVs) with their poor gas mileage.
Te shock of $4 per gallon along
with environmental issues crashed
GM’s SUV market, which could
not recover when gas prices fell to
$2 per gallon. “We made mistakes,”
GM executives admitted to Con-
gress when the company asked for
billions in federal bailouts.
Information Is Just Part of
the Story
As GM and too many other corpo-
rations have learned, CI is about
more than the competition. CI,
compiled correctly, is a thorough
analysis of the global economy and
its impact on domestic and foreign
sales. Above all, CI is proactive and
sensitive to trends and their po-
tential role in shaping a winning
strategy. Its practitioners are open
to challenging commonly held as-
sumptions. Sometimes, those frst
questions are the frst indicators of
change.
Te focus on competitive intelli-
gence should not be interpreted as
ignoring the importance of primary
and/or secondary market research.
Many have read the philosopher
Santayana’s admonition that those
who ignore the mistakes of the past
are condemned to repeat them. Al-
though past practices and research
merit consideration in drafing CI,
they cannot, in and of themselves,
be the foundation for future deci-
sion making. CI in the global econ-
omy requires a macro view that
takes into account not only your in-
dustry, but those indirectly related
along with an awareness of business
trends elsewhere and their potential
impact on your business. It requires
a fexible and futuristic outlook to-
ward customers, marketplace, op-
portunities, and, of course, change.
SUMMER 2009 / 3 BUSINESS BUILDERS
QUARTERLY QUOTE:
I Wish I Had Said That
“Any fool can make
things bigger, more
complex, and more
violent. It takes a
touch of genius —
and a lot of courage
— to move in the
opposite direction.”
—Albert Einstein
TPS MARKETING TIPS:
Incorporate these tips into the organization’s CI plan to assist in making viable strategic decisions.
• Use CI resources wisely by acquiring only needed data for strategic decision-making.
• Include all employees in the CI data gathering and analyzing.
• Never assume what competitors are doing or planning to do in the future. Find out exactly what they
are doing now. Research them thoroughly both online (press releases, websites, articles, etc.) and if
applicable, by visiting their store(s).
• Ask customers what other frms they considered before choosing your frm. Tese are your true competi-
tors. Additionally, recognize that one day business partners, contractors, suppliers and key customers
may become competitors.
RECOMMENDED READING:
1. Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App,
Cindi Howson
2. Te Proft Impact of Business Intelligence,
Steve Williams and Nancy Williams
3. Strategic Market Research: A Guide to Conducting Research
that Drives Businesses, Anne Beall
4. Consumer Insight: How to Use Data and Market Research to
Get Closer to Your Customer (Market Research in Practice Series),
Merlin Stone, Alison Bond, and Bryan Foss
5. Competitive Intelligence: How to Gather, Analyze, and Use
Information to Move Your Business to the Top,
Larry Kahaner
6. Strategic and Competitive Analysis: Methods and Techniques
for Analyzing Business Competition,
Craig S. Fleisher and Babette Bensoussan
2854 Sapra Street
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
Phone: 805.496.8850
Fax: 805.374.9167
www.tradepressservices.com
TRADE
PRESS
SERVICES
Writing and Publishing Specialists
Business Builders is a quarterly newsletter published by Trade Press Services. Contents ©2009 Trade Press Services. All rights reserved.
doc_843324221.pdf
Understanding Business Intelligence, Market Research and Competitive Intelligence
FEATURE ARTICLE
SUMMER 2009 A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
Trade Press Services presents Business Builders
Understanding Business
Intelligence, Market Research
and Competitive Intelligence
Intelligence, the outgrowth of processing vital information, is critical to the
success of every business in every industry. Sometimes, companies may not
understand the breadth and meaning of information that eventually becomes
intelligence. One notable example of this tendency is focusing on just one
component of information — the competition. Tis limited informational
perspective is inadequate for competing in today’s economy. What is needed
is a thorough understanding of three common forms of information: business
intelligence, market research and competitive intelligence. When gathered
and interpreted correctly, they ofer a sustainable competitive advantage.
Business Intelligence
Business intelligence (BI) is not as broad as the term implies. Rather, it rep-
resents an aggregate of various pieces of information including diverse items
such as customer preferences, buying habits and order sizes. It has much more
to do with data mining, data analytics and data management than creative
thinking or developing a visionary perspective that can be used to predict
the future. Yet, relying on data from the past or even the present to develop
tomorrow’s model may not be applicable to a future competitive environment.
While BI may even include information about competitors, no one should
conclude that this data is the most important weapon in a company’s arsenal.
Actually, it falls far short of what is required to compete globally.
Market Research
Market research statistically tells us where we’ve been or where we are. In ad-
dition to data mining and data management, primary market research em-
ploys a variety of tools to help a company fully understand its market and
customers. Primary research is capable of producing a highly critical assess-
ment and evaluation of past and current information. Neil Goldman, presi-
dent of Member Research, a California based frm that provides qualitative
and quantitative research to credit unions nationwide, ofers this perspective:
“In business, we have evolved from thinking of quality and service as being
unique selling propositions to recognizing the importance of our customers’
experience. How can we know this without market research?”
IN THIS ISSUE
• Feature Article
• TPS Marketing Tips
• Recommended Reading
• Business Resources
• Quarterly Quote -
“I Wish I Had Said Tat”
TPS WRITING SERVICES:
• Feature Articles
• Opinion Columns
• Success Stories
• White Papers
• Marketing Research
• Newsletters
• Books
• Memoirs
• Corporate Profles
• Grant Proposals
BUSINESS RESOURCES:
Many companies ofer expertise
in business intelligence, market
research and/or competitive
intelligence. Here are a few.
1. Member Research
www.memberresearch.com
2. Cipher
www.cipher-sys.com
3. Sharp Market Intelligence
www.sharpmarket.com
SUMMER 2009 / 2 BUSINESS BUILDERS
Unfortunately, undertaking prima-
ry research can be quite expensive,
most likely out of the range of many
start-ups or small companies with
limited budgets. Te alternative is
secondary market research, which
comes from information that has
already been published or data that
exists in other public sources. Mar-
ket research is statistically valid, but
its focus is limited to only the past
and the present.
Competitive Intelligence
Competitive intelligence (CI) is
more than its name implies and goes
beyond business intelligence and
market research. Cipher Systems,
a consulting frm, defnes CI on its
website as “an ethical gathering and
analysis of competitor and market
information from open sources.”
Market information, as used here, is
not an aferthought. Rather, it is the
forefront of information necessary
for compilation of a clearer picture
of the future marketplace.
“It’s looking at the entire competi-
tive business environment that im-
pacts your business. Competitors
are just a small piece,” says the pres-
ident of Sharp Market Intelligence,
Seena Sharp, a practitioner of intel-
ligence, research and analysis for 30
years. She recites a litany of factors
she believes are ofen overlooked.
“It’s what’s going on with custom-
ers, marketplace, suppliers, distrib-
utors, regulations and demograph-
ics,” Sharp says, “and don’t forget
industries that are indirectly related
to yours.”
Instead of limiting its conclusions
to previously acquired data, CI asks
questions about the marketplace,
products and services being devel-
oped or ofered, potential users and
future trends. Inherent in CI is a
recognition that past practices and
assumptions do not always make for
efective competitive intelligence.
Assumptions and Pitfalls
If CI were to have a mantra, it might
be “the past is not a predictor of the
future.” Tis credo may be outside
the realm of thinking for those who
rely on business assumptions in
drafing what they believe to be CI.
Tis information has to be external;
that is, going beyond the industry
into a seemingly unrelated environ-
ment that may impact it in the long
run.
Such thinking overlooks gaps in the
marketplace that can be exploited
especially when assumptions are
challenged. General Motors may
be the classic example of what
happens when companies ignore
competitors who take advantage
of those gaps that meet customer
needs. Even though foreign com-
petitors were developing more fuel-
efcient vehicles including hybrids,
GM ignored the warning signs and
focused on sport utility vehicles
(SUVs) with their poor gas mileage.
Te shock of $4 per gallon along
with environmental issues crashed
GM’s SUV market, which could
not recover when gas prices fell to
$2 per gallon. “We made mistakes,”
GM executives admitted to Con-
gress when the company asked for
billions in federal bailouts.
Information Is Just Part of
the Story
As GM and too many other corpo-
rations have learned, CI is about
more than the competition. CI,
compiled correctly, is a thorough
analysis of the global economy and
its impact on domestic and foreign
sales. Above all, CI is proactive and
sensitive to trends and their po-
tential role in shaping a winning
strategy. Its practitioners are open
to challenging commonly held as-
sumptions. Sometimes, those frst
questions are the frst indicators of
change.
Te focus on competitive intelli-
gence should not be interpreted as
ignoring the importance of primary
and/or secondary market research.
Many have read the philosopher
Santayana’s admonition that those
who ignore the mistakes of the past
are condemned to repeat them. Al-
though past practices and research
merit consideration in drafing CI,
they cannot, in and of themselves,
be the foundation for future deci-
sion making. CI in the global econ-
omy requires a macro view that
takes into account not only your in-
dustry, but those indirectly related
along with an awareness of business
trends elsewhere and their potential
impact on your business. It requires
a fexible and futuristic outlook to-
ward customers, marketplace, op-
portunities, and, of course, change.
SUMMER 2009 / 3 BUSINESS BUILDERS
QUARTERLY QUOTE:
I Wish I Had Said That
“Any fool can make
things bigger, more
complex, and more
violent. It takes a
touch of genius —
and a lot of courage
— to move in the
opposite direction.”
—Albert Einstein
TPS MARKETING TIPS:
Incorporate these tips into the organization’s CI plan to assist in making viable strategic decisions.
• Use CI resources wisely by acquiring only needed data for strategic decision-making.
• Include all employees in the CI data gathering and analyzing.
• Never assume what competitors are doing or planning to do in the future. Find out exactly what they
are doing now. Research them thoroughly both online (press releases, websites, articles, etc.) and if
applicable, by visiting their store(s).
• Ask customers what other frms they considered before choosing your frm. Tese are your true competi-
tors. Additionally, recognize that one day business partners, contractors, suppliers and key customers
may become competitors.
RECOMMENDED READING:
1. Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App,
Cindi Howson
2. Te Proft Impact of Business Intelligence,
Steve Williams and Nancy Williams
3. Strategic Market Research: A Guide to Conducting Research
that Drives Businesses, Anne Beall
4. Consumer Insight: How to Use Data and Market Research to
Get Closer to Your Customer (Market Research in Practice Series),
Merlin Stone, Alison Bond, and Bryan Foss
5. Competitive Intelligence: How to Gather, Analyze, and Use
Information to Move Your Business to the Top,
Larry Kahaner
6. Strategic and Competitive Analysis: Methods and Techniques
for Analyzing Business Competition,
Craig S. Fleisher and Babette Bensoussan
2854 Sapra Street
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
Phone: 805.496.8850
Fax: 805.374.9167
www.tradepressservices.com
TRADE
PRESS
SERVICES
Writing and Publishing Specialists
Business Builders is a quarterly newsletter published by Trade Press Services. Contents ©2009 Trade Press Services. All rights reserved.
doc_843324221.pdf