Ever wondered how some businesses always seem to be one step ahead of the competition?
At the core of every industry-leading company is an advanced understanding of data, using information points to guide their road map and support operational efficiencies while minimising the risk of poor decision-making. This data-centric approach to unlocking business-critical information is often referred to as business intelligence.
TL;DR
Business intelligence turns raw data into decisions in three stages: collecting it, analysing it, and delivering it to the right people. It powers competitor research, media monitoring, and brand monitoring for media monitoring firms. The value isn’t more data. It’s sifting through a growing volume of sources to find the few points that actually matter.
What Business Intelligence Is
At a high level, Business Intelligence (BI) covers a wide range of internal and external functions and is defined as “the process by which enterprises use strategies and technologies for analysing current and historical data” to support decision-makers and business strategy. Using this definition, business intelligence can be broken down into three general stages:
Data Collation
This stage covers collecting and storing the data that the analysis will draw on. Organised, consistent collation keeps results verifiable and stops stray variables from skewing your outputs.
Data Analysis
This is where the work happens: the data runs through an analytical process to extract insight. The process depends on the goal. A software provider might analyse existing datasets to identify efficiency gains, while a consulting firm might gather external data to inform a C-level strategy report.
Data Outputs
Analysis is only as good as its delivery. The results need to reach the right people in a form they can use. There’s no room for data that doesn’t inform a decision. Knowing what to include and what to leave out is what makes the earlier work pay off.
Business Intelligence in Practice
With those stages in mind, here is how BI creates a competitive advantage across three common use cases.
Use of BI for Competitive Research
Competitor research is common across most sectors. It gives your team a clearer view of the landscape and how your offering compares. BI tools are central to it, drawing on news data, social media, press releases, and market activity to show what other companies are prioritising. Those insights help you position new products and time your moves to get the best result.
Media Monitoring for Real-time Insights
Media monitoring both uses BI and sits within it. BI analytics are especially useful for brand monitoring, reputational risk, and campaign tracking. PR and communications teams depend on broad, accurate data to do this well, which tailored BI makes far easier.
Business Intelligence in action for MMOs
Brand monitoring is a leading use case for media monitoring firms, giving their end clients insight that drives activity across many functions.
Nike is a good example. It acquired the BI companies Zodiac and Celect in 2018 and 2019, using their predictive analytics to power consumer insight and improve sales in underperforming products and regions. The same forward-looking BI lets brands like Nike blunt emerging reputational concerns and respond early.
Conclusion
There’s no one-size-fits-all way to guide company decisions. Effective data analysis is an increasingly essential guide to how you respond to events that affect the business. But more data doesn’t mean better decisions. That’s the real value of BI: taking a growing volume of sources and sifting millions of content points to find the few that deserve your attention.
Opoint’s global news data is built to feed that work, providing comprehensive global news coverage on any company, entity, or individual.
Frequently Asked Questions
How reliable is BI for competitive research?
What goes in determines what comes out. Reliable BI starts with the data inputs behind your analysis. Poor or incomplete datasets raise the risk of errors and discrepancies, which undermine both the results and the actionability of the insights.
Can BI tools really help in crisis management?
Yes. BI tools help you monitor critical performance during a crisis, whether that’s tracking negative media and reputational risk or following economic data and predictive analytics to forecast outcomes. BI and data analysis are central to navigating high-risk situations.
How do I get started with BI for market intelligence?
There’s no single right way. What you plan to use BI for shapes how you approach it. A media monitoring firm might combine social media content and editorial news to unlock audience insight, while an asset management company could examine trading signals and news coverage for correlations that inform market activity.
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