Competitive Intelligence Software Liberates the Analyst to Think
Posted on Fri, Aug 17, 2012
Article Series: 5 Minutes Can Change The Way We Think & Work
Do you remember the day you joined the Internet?
Think back and recall what it was like to sort through all of the junk mail and irrelevant pop up ads made famous in the late 90's, early 2000's. Thought that was overwhelming and time consuming? Compare that to today's multi-source text messages, birthday alerts, event updates, Twitter mentions, blogs, wall posts, and online bank accounts to name a few.
It's clear, the world wide web has us tangled up and feeling locked into an rough game of Twister. But no matter how complex and interlaced the Internet has become with our lives, new data sources have served us with more relevant information compared to 15 years ago. That's what makes us more efficient, better informed, and much wiser.
In the professional space, the Internet can yield tremendous efficiency gains by using cost-effective (SaaS) applications. If your career involves some aspect of competitive or market intelligence, for example, the Internet can provide compelling customer and market insight to make you advantageously competitive. Equally as fast as your Facebook newsfeed changes, your competitors, vendors, affiliates and partners are updating their websites with information that can directly impact your role.
Consider this: an annual CMO study conducted by IBM shows that 82% of the 1,700 CMOs surveyed around the globe say they plan to increase their use of social media over the next 3-5 years, but only 26% are actually tracking blogs today. In addition, the study showed that over 60% of them are underprepared to manage the growth of communication channels, device choices and social media.
Something isn't right with these findings. If all of this information is free, timely, and usually valid enough to form conclusions, why aren't companies already chasing Internet data? We've determined two reasons: it requires beaucoup time and overwhelming tactical resistance. Consequently so, having an analytical thinker (i.e., competitive intelligence professional or market analyst) spend valuable time playing the role of data chaser is just not prudent.
Fortunately, there is new competitive intelligence software available designed to automate searching, monitoring, collecting, sorting, and housing data to help executives make better strategic decisions across the enterprise. Many CI executives end up using the tool as automated informants, paving the way for improved time management, relevant data mining, and timely communication of critical issues.
The fact of the matter is, whether you are in marketing, business development, strategic planning, or corporate communications, you can benefit from today's Internet data explosion. With the right competitive intelligence tools in place, the Internet should not feel overwhelming, but rather, liberating. So, what are you doing to cope?
There are many ways to implement business & competitive intelligence software to a company's department functions. To learn how to gain a competitive advantage using business intelligence & competitor monitoring software in your department, download one of our helpful competitive guides.