In this modern world, information is key to any successful company, no matter the size of operations. A business has to constantly be inward and outward looking to know the correct steps it needs to take to grow or flourish. Business intelligence refers to information within your company, while market intelligence is information regarding external factors. In this article, we will look at the importance of both, and how to ensure they work harmoniously with one another, and show how one without the other can be damaging.
Firstly, business intelligence is vital to a company’s success in terms of knowing your limitations, and learning from the company’s history. This may seem fairly straightforward and nothing more than common sense. However, when a company expands, especially if it does so on a rapid scale, accurate information about the company can be harder to come by. Therefore, the key to good business intelligence, is making sure your company’s ways of gathering internal information expands as your business expands.
Market intelligence on the other hand, is a level of knowledge that is not so correlated to the size of your business. Dealing with information relating to the market your business is in, can seem sometimes that market intelligence has no bounds. As a result, it can sometimes be quite daunting to know either where to start with market intelligence, or what is considered ‘enough’ information about your market. One option is to get specialist help with this problem, in the form of market research specialists. These types of companies can save you time and resources, by knowing specifically where to look within the market, and compile relevant information in an easily digestible form of information. If you are worried about the cost, then it is worth remembering the quality of information that can be offered from external companies, compared to what you’ll be able to produce in-house.
Finally, it’s important to make sure it is a harmonious relationship between market and business intelligence within your company. As decisions made just on market intelligence can drain resources to a dangerous level, if your business intelligence is not up to date and substantial. While basing decisions just on business intelligence, can be well placed in terms of resource allocation, but futile in successful market penetration, opportunity or development. While making a decision with ample amounts of both forms of intelligence can allow for correct decisions relating to the direction being taken within a market. While simultaneously making sure it is within your business’s capabilities.