Three key design factors and eight top tips for designing and running a market intelligence function. These slides are based on our long experience of helping technology organisations to design, build and run a market insight and market intelligence function.

1. © Innovation Observatory Ltd 2013
Market insight and
intelligence: 3 key design
factors and 8 top tips
January 2013
Danny Dicks
Market insight and intelligence: 3 key design factors and 8 top tips 1

2. © Innovation Observatory Ltd 2013
Innovation Observatory advises and supports
companies on many aspects of MI
• Platform and process design • Outsourced management (of data
consultancy and training entry and information
– Workshops with, or surveys of, dissemination)
users, and creation of – Populating databases (including
recommendations continuous desk research,
profiling), email briefings,
• Platform development and hosting
webinars, presentations,
– Web-based MI portal, database- workshops
driven online service advice
• Off-the-shelf analysis
• Bespoke data and analysis
– Reports on aspects of the
– Market forecasting, market share telecoms, IT and smart grids
analysis, value chain analysis, markets; reusable market models
scenario planning and databases
Market insight and intelligence: 3 key design factors and 8 top tips 2

3. © Innovation Observatory Ltd 2013
A market intelligence function serves multiple
users, and has two-way interactions with them
• Different users want different types of
intelligence, delivered in different formats: Board
People
– News + analysis
Strategy
– Insight into market trends, customer needs,
perceptions Processes Sales
– Market numerical data (size, share)
Marketing /
– Competitor intelligence (strategy, capability, marcoms
pricing) Platforms
Operations
– Online / PowerPoint / Excel etc
• They want it in different ways, e.g., Market Users
– Regular (briefings, newsletters etc) intelligence
function
– Rapid on-demand (by phone, email, meeting
/ workshop)
– Medium-term on-demand (project-based)
Some intelligence is pushed to users; users
also pull intelligence from the MI team
Market insight and intelligence: 3 key design factors and 8 top tips 3
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Intelligence is obtained from multiple providers,
and there is two-way interaction here too
• Meetings, workshops
Staff (sales,
marketing, People • Briefings (face-to-face or remote)
strategists)
• Subscriptions (reports, data sets /
Analyst houses, databases, company and market
agencies,
profiles)
consultancies Processes
• Ad hoc reports / data sets
Customers / potential
customers • Projects (market and customer research,
Internal systems
consultancy, marketing-oriented white
Platforms
(CRM, ad hoc, papers)
etc) • Multi-client studies, benchmarking etc
Providers Market
intelligence • Conferences and exhibitions (internal
function and external)
Not all interaction is commercial : e.g., there is
some overlap with the analyst relations function
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The best MI teams complement expertise
elsewhere (internally and externally)
• As a minimum they must
People
– Design and continuously evolve processes for MI gathering, delivery, request
handling and platform provision – including mapping needs to deliverables
Processes – Match resources to purpose: is MI a library of data, or is it intended to challenge
and critique strategy?
Platforms – Select and manage providers of core news, analysis and data, and facilitate
delivery (but can be light touch only)
– Provide a point of contact for providers, users and other teams
– Be aware of what intelligence is “out there”
• They may also fulfil or support additional functions :
– News gathering / analysis, market / competitor analysis, market forecasting,
market research (including customer research)
– Procurement (of reports, services, projects etc)
– IT platform build / management
– Support analyst relations
Market insight and intelligence: 3 key design factors and 8 top tips 5

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MI process design requires appreciation of existing
processes in other areas
• Handling requests / commissioning
People
– Cycles for buying reports / subscriptions and commissioning projects should
link to budget cycles: all buyers must be aware of these; a separate budget to
Processes meet urgent, small-scale or strategically important requests for intelligence
will be needed
Platforms – “Rosters” of approved suppliers may reduce complexity in very large
organisations but rarely deliver optimum value (niche specialist suppliers may
have greater expertise and focus, and be cheaper)
• Processes for delivery
– Continuous services and subscriptions must meet diverse needs: utilitarianism
(the greatest good for the greatest number of people) needs coupling with
tactical purchasing of reports and data sets
– Rapid response can involve in-house MI staff and internal resources, or access
to “analysts on call” (through informal or formal services)
– The MI role in projects may be limited to advice and procurement – but should
include dissemination and storage of deliverables
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There are difficult decisions to be taken on
design/choice, control and use of platforms
• Control over relevant platforms can be a fraught area
People
– Customer data is often jealously guarded by sales teams and stored in a
haphazard way
Processes
– Company intranets may be controlled by marketing, marcoms, internal comms,
IT, or HR departments – or worse, may be anarchic and unstructured, with
Platforms data on usage hard to pin down
– Individual divisions and teams may build their own portals / platforms tailored
to their own needs, leading to duplication of effort and fragmentation of
insight / intelligence
• It is dangerously easy to build / buy too many platforms ... but a mistake
to persevere with those that are no longer fit for purpose
– IT projects, and new bespoke or off-the-shelf knowledge management
systems can be expensive, may not be used and may not replace current ways
of working
– New ways of indexing, storing and presenting knowledge are often more
flexible and powerful than old ways – use the technology!
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8. © Innovation Observatory Ltd 2013
Eight top tips for designing and running an MI
function [1]
Share and re-use data and knowledge Analyse news events properly
• A single knowledge management • Collation, filtering and analysis of news
system for market reports, data, stories is essential
project deliverables and other forms of – News sources, even when pushed
qualitative and quantitative insight, (e.g., through email, RSS feed etc)
with a powerful search function, will generally lack relevant analysis and can
quickly be used across a company overwhelm busy users
– This may require knowledge to be – In-house or external providers with a
moved from existing systems – or good grasp of user priorities can
meta-systems to be developed deliver much more relevant intelligence
in flexible delivery formats
– Indexing and search applications can
help – Generally, the more frequent, detailed
and tailored the analysis of events, the
– Rules on use of the system and the
more time-consuming and expensive it
data structure must be simple to grasp,
is to deliver: finding the right balance
and be enforced
is important
Market insight and intelligence: 3 key design factors and 8 top tips 8

9. © Innovation Observatory Ltd 2013
Eight top tips for designing and running an MI
function [1]
Use links with analyst relations Be aware of what research can deliver
• Companies that build long-term • Controlling project scope can ensure
relationships with specific expert useful synergy
market analysts get a lot from them – Commissioning primary market and
– Regular (annual) analyst conferences customer research can be justified
can be used both to promote a more easily if budgets and objectives
company to opinion formers, but also are pooled
to gather a critique on strategy, view – Take agency advice on the appropriate
on market direction, etc place to stop: research can become
– Analysts are generally more willing to less effective as questions are added to
provide informal advice and opinion to quantitative or qualitative surveys
companies that subscribe to their – Don’t push the data too hard: sub-
services or commission work from samples may be too small to deliver
them: it’s a natural commercial instinct robust results – take care with research
design
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10. © Innovation Observatory Ltd 2013
Eight top tips for designing and running an MI
function [1]
Mine existing data and knowledge Don’t rely on single sources and beware of
incompatible datasets
• Many projects benefit from the use of • Choose and use providers wisely
existing knowledge – A single analyst house view of a
– Kick off projects with a workshop to market may not be robust; if budgets
collate knowledge from all relevant allow, source multiple comparable data
parties sets
– Allow providers access to internal data; – Be careful to make like-for-like
protect with confidentiality agreements comparisons, particularly with value
as necessary. Don’t pay analysts to chains and market forecast data.
recreate data you already have and the Analyst houses and consultancies can
thinking you have done, but rather to normalise / harmonise / synthesise
critique it. Be clear you expect justified multiple data sets as a project to suit
conclusions so you don’t get your own your specific requirements
analysis presented back
– Don’t reinvent the wheel, but recognise
when fresh work is needed
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11. © Innovation Observatory Ltd 2013
Eight top tips for designing and running an MI
function [1]
There are multiple approaches to Focus hard on who the audience is and
competitor and pricing research how to reach them
• Competitor intelligence in non- • Deliver the right thing at the right
regulated business service markets is time, to the right place using the right
hard to find medium
– A “mystery shopper” approach is high – Consider the frequency and detail
risk, and some research and analyst required, and make sure intelligence is
companies will not provide it up-to-date and refreshed
– Market surveys can deliver much useful – Use existing behaviour to your
intelligence, but careful research advantage – if users always visit
design is essential specific intranet pages, put links to
your information on them
– Establishing a likely market price for a
new service needs special techniques: – Understand whether your role is to
ask providers for examples of deliver data only, or to challenge and
successful projects support strategy development, and
match platforms and people to purpose
Market insight and intelligence: 3 key design factors and 8 top tips 11

12. © Innovation Observatory Ltd 2013
Contact us to find out more about what we can
offer corporate market intelligence managers
Innovation Observatory Ltd
Silvaco Technology Centre
Compass Point Business Park
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
PE27 5JL
UK
Tel: +44 1480 309341
www.innovationobservatory.com
enquiries@innovationobservatory.com
Market insight and intelligence: 3 key design factors and 8 top tips 12