#05 Better decisions with market intelligence

Strategy interview with Sascha Dongowski, Managing Partner, and Prof. Dr. Arno Lammerts, Senior Vice President Corporate Development at Cedura.

If you want to make good decisions, you need the right data and information about your relevant markets and competitors. StrategyFrame® partner Cedura helps corporate decision-makers know their relevant markets and their competitors as well as possible, which improves internal decision management. This speeds up the situation analysis within the strategy process and lets you adjust your strategy as quickly as possible through automation and regular updates in the CedDecider software. CedDecider is integrated directly into the digital StrategyFrame®. That makes StrategyFrame® and Cedura, the leading market intelligence provider, an unbeatable team for your digital strategy process.

Christian Underwood: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianunderwood/ Sascha Dongowski: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sascha-dongowski-17a743ab/ Prof. Dr. Arno Lammerts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alammerts/ Cedura: https://cedura.de/ Strategy Podcast "Hope Is Not a Strategy": https://www.strategy-frame.com/pages/strategiepodcast Strategy Book "Hope Is Not a Strategy": https://www.strategy-frame.com/pages/strategiebuch Digital strategy tool: https://www.strategy-frame.com/

According to Prof. Dr. Arno Lammerts, most companies know their markets well. But unlike ten years ago, changes today are big and fast, and they are not easy to follow in detail. Companies are usually aware of their most important competitors, but there are often gaps when it comes to the details. And those details hold great potential. What matters is not only the current market, but also forecasts of how it will develop.

It's essential for companies to get all relevant information about their market. Instead of collecting everything that is available, the goal is to gather the data that is relevant to the individual company and make it accessible. Customers, potential customers, suppliers, partner companies, distributors, other companies' products and services, and the arguments they use to sell them: all of this is information a company needs to hold its ground in the market. From that data, a company can tap existing potential and sharpen its marketing strategy.

Market intelligence is particularly important here. It is the method for building an overview of the market, and it leads to better decision management.

CedDecider helps companies bring information together. The software makes sure data flows into one central place, is filtered for relevance and is finally presented according to defined standards. That way, everyone responsible in the company works from the same level of information and shares a common understanding of the subject. Gaps that used to make decisions difficult get closed. Market intelligence is applied directly in the form of the CedDecider software, and it makes a big difference in decision management.

Information about markets and competitors has to be gathered continuously for a company to stay ahead. Market intelligence is the method for monitoring markets.

At the start of the process, a company has to ask itself:

What do we really need to know? What information and data is relevant to our industry and market? What information do we already have?

Once these questions are answered, data collection can begin, and it's clear that only relevant information will be collected. The market is then viewed and analyzed very efficiently, from specific angles. On that basis, well-founded decisions can be made for the company.

At Cedura, every company is looked at individually. That's why there is an initial conversation first. Alternatively, you can fill out a template with about six questions. This gives Cedura a first impression of the company and shows what information is already available, which industry the company operates in and which competitors are known.

Cedura then builds a demo system using market intelligence. That can take one to two weeks. Finally, the client gets to look at this demo system. This is often where the first "aha" moment happens. The demo system may contain information about competitors that the company wasn't aware of before. Up to this point, the offer is completely free.

Once a data foundation exists, less information gets added over time. It becomes increasingly clear which information is essential and which isn't needed. So it's a continuous learning process, based on market intelligence.

In the first step, data collection, a lot is done manually. Research is conducted on various platforms to build an overview of the market. The information collected is then verified. The client also gets the chance to review the data and decide which figures and data to trust and use, and which not to.

The importance of suppliers has become clear recently. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies faced situations where suppliers couldn't deliver materials and production came to a halt. So part of market intelligence is looking for suppliers who can meet the company's requirements for a product or material. It's not only competitors that get a close look; supplier offers are analyzed as well, to find the best supplier.

The focus is on automation. Automated processes in market intelligence mean huge time savings for companies. Building them, on the other hand, is very time-consuming. Cedura is working toward automated software and tools that will enable companies to make the best possible decisions.

Cedura also aims to make knowledge sharing possible. That includes sharing and discussing data and information, which makes it all the more valuable. Technological developments have to be anticipated here: the Internet of Things and blockchain are just two examples Cedura has in mind. The goal is full automation and digitization, to support companies on their journey with market intelligence.

Business leaders have to ask themselves a lot of questions if they want to understand their competitors and their markets. The most important one, though, is: do I have enough information to make a good decision?

With that question, you check which data you already have and which is still missing. That's how market intelligence works.