Mobilise And Weaponise Your Data: It All Starts With Market Intelligence

Anyone familiar with the concept of market intelligence would be able to tell you dozens of different names for it: competitive intelligence, market research, marketing intelligence, knowledge management, digital marketing, market intelligence, and the like. Confusingly, these various terms may, per their users, refer to different realities. The fact is that no precise definition is currently globally recognised.

I used to work in a market intelligence department in the telecommunications industry, during which the department name changed no fewer than three times in a single year. Given the changeability of the term and the field's undoubtedly increasing importance, and after some discussions with academics who had strikingly divergent views, I believe this question is worth further exploration.

Why can't a definition be agreed on?

From my experience, I would suggest two reasons for the imprecise terminology:

The applications within the field are cross-functional, leading to more variables in design, usage, and scope. The academic world has been considering this topic for fewer years than it has other business topics. A universe of possibilities

My team and I have taken on this topic of market intelligence, part of which is defining the term. We began with the basics, concluding the following:

Market intelligence refers to the gathering and analysing of information in order to provide decision-makers with accurate and digested strategic information. Seen in the light of the bigger process, market intelligence would, for example, be used to inform decision-makers before they launch a product, buy a company, or monitor their competitors.

Market intelligence professionals are NOT the final decision-makers. Rather, they are providers of information and recommendations for decision-makers.

The main goal of market intelligence is to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. However, the technics involved can be applied to other ends too.

Only some of the various definitions used in the market. A natural question that you might ask is what the difference is between market intelligence and knowledge management (KM). Market intelligence (or whichever name it goes by) would come between the roles of the decision-maker and the KM team. KM consists of gathering information as well as managing subscriptions for the company, whereas market intelligence consists of...