Market Intelligence is essential for creating strong product strategy and for fine-tuning that strategy as industries, markets, customers, the product space, and competitors evolve over time. And “time” in the software industry is measured in nanoseconds. Fast-changing industries, such as software technology, require more attention on MI: more monitoring and quicker management action. Core decisions for businesses must be based on reasonable understanding of significant and likely future events – what the potential impact could be, good and bad. Market intelligence is the dynamic means for uncovering essential future-pointing intelligence as early as possible, averting “nasty surprises” and discovering new opportunities before the competition.
Market Intelligence provides the strongest value when it is aligned with product strategy groups or even corporate strategy. It is positioned as a virtual hub for the entire company, interacting with all groups both for gathering information and for sharing intelligence and actionable recommendations. The MI professional for software companies must be very technical and really understand the technology basis for the core competency of the company. A market intelligence program consists of continuous processes, monitoring and analysis regarding a particular matrix of: products, customers, markets, and competitors. The intelligence gathered is also weighed relative to the business and goals of the company. Once analyses are completed, the market intelligence professional generates many sorts of collateral to assist the company, primarily with strategic decisions, but also with tactical needs. Collateral includes executive alerts, competitive selling guidelines, actionable recommendations for product direction both for near and not-so-near futures. The process of market intelligence is iterative and responsive to changes in the above-mentioned matrix during the lifecycle of software products.
Market Intelligence differs from business research (and traditional business intelligence) through context, a certain mindset held while the research phase is done. The market intelligence professional always has in mind the company, its business and product space, the industry and markets, and the drivers behind the need for intelligence. It’s an ongoing sense of the impact of what could be uncovered, the ramifications of what even the smallest pieces of information could mean for the company. It ensures that business decisions and product direction are market-driven, reality-based, and actionable.
The power of a market intelligence professional lies in advanced expertise, both for subject areas and for effective implementations of market and competitive intelligence programs. Impactful insight and perspective that truly bring competitive advantage to an enterprise are best achieved when the MI professional maintains an entrepreneurial and creative approach. Frequently, each problem or situation requiring market intelligence is different from previous problems and usually requires a whole new solution and form of deliverable to be effective, relevant and timely.
About the author: Julie Hunt is an accomplished market intelligence analyst, providing strategic market and competitive insights for the software industry. Her 20+ years as a software professional range from the very technical side to customer-centric work in solutions consulting, sales and marketing. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitive and on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting – Market Intelligence Services
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