How much do you know about the market you operate in? It is a question that should be at the heart of any enterprise, as without this knowledge it is impossible to market your goods and services effectively to both existing and new customers. Information is power, none more so than in B2B marketing where understanding the market and the businesses you trade with is a prerequisite for long-term future prosperity.
In Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, it is claimed that, ‘to succeed in war, one must have full knowledge of one’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of one’s enemies’. Success in business requires the same knowledge.
The growing need for a broad mix of business information means a number of facility providers have appeared, offering a selection of discrete services to provide businesses of all sizes with the information needed, when it is needed.
Latest figures from IT research firm Outsell put the business intelligence market at nearly $17 billion. Service providers, such as Hoover’s (part of D&B), OneSource, Factiva and LexisNexis, are now part of the B2B marketing armoury of many businesses, but what exactly are business information systems and what can they offer an enterprise?
Paul Cooper, VP of sales at OneSource Information Services, explains, ìBusiness information services give companies of all sizes access to accurate and timely information on customers, prospects, competitors and market analysis. The alternative searching for free information on the web is time-consuming. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the average user will understand the accuracy or quality of the information they are seeking.
No business wants to make decisions using inaccurate or out of date information. Business information is used by companies for market segmentation, lead generation, sales prospecting, customer management and competitive analysis: all key elements of business success and growth.
This is echoed by Alan Scott, chief marketing officer at Factiva. ìMore than $35 billion is wasted annually by companies searching for, but not finding, business-critical information. Organisations are only now beginning to recognise the financial impact and productivity drain associated with the problems of information overload, paralysis and the costs of inefficient searching.
Today’s business intelligence providers ensure that they not only have the latest data, but also a delivery mechanism that fits into customers’ operations.
This is how LexisNexis approached the development of its latest information systems. We want to make our services easy to use, and to make the information we provide instantly ‘consumable’ as part of our customers’ workflow, said Aneil Rakity, head of corporate markets at LexisNexis. ìSignificant effort is going into developing interfaces and applications that reflect the way our customers actually work.
He continues, ìWe collaborate with our users and customers to continually enhance our products and services.Prior to the launch of the new LexisNexis business and news service, for example, we met with thousands of users across the globe to better understand their needs.
Business intelligence is being utilised more widely by smaller business than ever before. The Internet has created a marketplace where the size of an enterprise no longer governs its market-share. The ubiquitous level playing field is being exploited with micro-enterprises punching well above their weight and winning contracts in the highly competitive B2B market. One of the reasons enterprises are able to do this, is due to the availability of business information systems.
Business intelligence is now clearly a resource that is finding new markets in a diverse range of sectors. One of the major players in this industry is Hoover’s, which offers free access to information.
Nicky Keyworth, UK leader of D&B’s sales & marketing solutions, comments, ìHoover’s is used for prospecting, lead generation and sales meeting preparation. A recent development is the integration of Hoover’s with Salesforce.com, a leading CRM system in the US, which is also well established here in the UK.
She continues, ìNow, sales people will save time and increase their effectiveness by prospecting and building lists using Hoover’s data and tools from within the CRM. Equally, we see both marketing and strategy teams carrying out competitor analysis using both Hoover’s and D&B’s Global Reference Solution (a tailored way to access information on some 100 million companies worldwide). For estimation market demand and preparing to enter new markets, the analytic tools available through D&B Market Insight are invaluable.
Clearly there is a cost attached to any information that a business would like to use, just as a cost is inevitable in any business purchase. However, if chosen carefully, the ROI of business information can be effective for any size of enterprise. Information can provide insights that could revolutionise business operation, but care must be taken when sourcing the information needed. OneSource’s products for instance, including its Express, Business Browser UK and Global Business Browser, start at £4500 for one user-license, but the cost subsequently decreases with each new user added.
Cost sensitivity is taken onboard by D&B. Keyworth says, to match the needs of smaller customers and smaller budgets, we offer different levels of service including Hoover’s free service. When it comes to costs, we offer the whole range. It’s important to remember that, regardless of size, all businesses have the same requirement: to grow, they need to find new customers. The needs are the same as bigger businesses, just on a different scale.
According to Ray Jones, head of communications at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the costs with the overall benefit must be weighed up before committing to buy information services. ìConsiderable sums can be wasted on sourcing information that, while useful, is not the sort of data that will revolutionise the way a business operates.
He continues, ìBefore using business intelligence services, a company needs to conduct a detailed analysis of the information it requires and how it will use this information. It may need to look at its own goals and how the information will help it to achieve them. It may already have access to sophisticated data or it may be starting from scratch. It should understand the level of investment that will be required to obtain information that will be of real value and then weigh this cost against the benefits.î
Business information is unlike any other commodity that will be consumed as goods and services are marketed. The worth of the information purchased from any of the current suppliers must be put into context. Before even thinking about taking a subscription with any of the business intelligence services, an information audit must be carried out. What information is needed? What is the goal the data will help to achieve? Do not forget the costs. The ROI you can attain must support the decision to outsource information needs.
Areas in which your own market expertise should also be considered should not solely depend on external help with the business intelligence needed. Business intelligence should be used to support your own market and commercial knowledge. With this in mind, an information provider can be sourced that has the data required and offers the appropriate services for a business. In the business information market, one size definitely doesn’t fit all.
When used to better target marketing activities, business intelligence can mean the difference between a sale and a lost lead. Costs vary in this industry, simply because no two businesses are alike and will therefore never require identical information to pursue their customers.
Look carefully at what you want the business information systems to do for your business: a service that fulfils that need can then be sought. If you’re new to buying business information, test these services for free on the Hoover’s website: www.hoovers.com/free.
Once you understand what this kind of information can do for your business, more specialised services can be investigated. Above all else, ensure that the information being bought fulfils marketing goals.
In today’s competitive marketplace, simply searching with Google is no longer cost-effective, accurate, comprehensive or able to give you the return needed to compete in your market. A specialised information service can give you an edge over your competition, but only when used as an integrated component of wider marketing activities.
