Let’s define Market intelligence first – it is the “aha” moment in the market research process, when you identify the patterns after you have scanned the results from primary research, secondary research, and competitive intelligence. The patterns lead you to some conclusions. Most often in companies, this is a fragmented effort. The primary researcher presents results and recommendations, the secondary researcher sends his report and CI comes in contradicting all of the above. The decision-maker gives up and goes by his guts. Naming the department as Market Intelligence or Insights and combining all three units under one head, or placing an analytical integrating group will solve this problem. Or else, you end up calling someone like me to make sense of it all!
There’s a sequence of logical thought that needs to happen in the intelligence process – I call it the 7-Step MI process. This process, taught in the Market Insights training, will also require you to explore existing research and different avenues for securing the research to get to the desired results.