What’s Up in MI? – Recent developments in the
Field of Market Intelligence

Former InfoAmericas principals join Kroll to launch an MI business unit serving Latin America

Kroll, the world’s leading risk consulting company, has hired John Price, Jan Smith, Thomas Rideg and Guillaume Corpart from InfoAmericas to launch a new market intelligence business line serving Latin America. Messrs. Price, Smith, Rideg and Corpart join Kroll along with other key personnel from InfoAmericas, Inc., Latin America’s leading provider of market intelligence solutions and a GIA Member in the region.

These strategic hires unite Kroll’s traditional investigation and security services with a suite of market intelligence services that are designed to help clients manage both the opportunities and risks of doing business in Latin America. The core services of Kroll’s market intelligence business include market analysis, market sizing and segmentation, market and product feasibility analysis, partnering, benchmarking, competitive intelligence and customer intelligence.

“The InfoAmericas team’s experience in helping clients measure market opportunities is the perfect complement to Kroll’s risk analysis capabilities,” said Mr. Price, who joins Kroll as a Managing Director. “Kroll now offers the unique capacity to help companies assess and capitalize on market opportunities and potential.”

The market intelligence division will be fully integrated into Kroll’s Latin America platform. Kroll’s Latin America region includes offices in Miami, Mexico City, Bogota, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and the Eastern Caribbean (Grenada).

Abstracted from from Kroll press release, 12 March 2008 

New study by Best Practices LLC discusses how top companies achieve long-term CI success

According to a new study by Best Practices, LLC, successful world-class companies gather information proactively and act on it to strategically develop competitive edge.

Best Practices, LLC's analytical approach provides benchmarks and insights that managers and executives can use to build and sustain high-performing, well-recognized CI organizations. The study discusses how top companies achieve long-term CI success through thoughtful development of each major program element including:

• Organizational Structure and alignment-optimal fit within the corporation
• Resource levels - adequate budget, competent staff and effective compensation rates
• Leadership - ideal role of CI head
• CI activities, tools and techniques- creating high impact analyses
• Stakeholder relationships- integrating CI with internal customers and collaborators
• Best Practices - demonstrating and promoting CI value

In addition to helping executives understand how to build an effective CI program, the study presents proven methods for increasing the quality and value of an existing CI groups. The report presents data for the full benchmark class and pharmaceutical segment and is based on insights gathered from 54 companies representing more than 12 different industries. Participants included Amgen, Boeing, Eli Lilly, Fidelity Investments, IBM, Merck, Procter & Gamble, Kraft and Wyeth.

Abstracted from Best Practices, LLC press release, 15 April 2008  

Outsell report: Global Intelligence Alliance Group provides complete MI systems

Outsell (www.outsellinc.com) has published a report profiling GIA, describing the company as follows:

Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA) Group is a good example of a company providing an integrated approach to general market intelligence (MI). The company has a strong backbone in MI process consulting (its roots) and also offers ongoing MI training. Its integrated system combines software, content, analysis, and analyst hours in a subscription model. What differentiates it from other integrated MI systems is that it blends different content types, both internal and external, on a hosted software platform for a full turnkey MI system. GIA demonstrates rapid growth in the emerging integrated MI market.

The report contains:

• Company highlights including revenue, analysis of product subscription costs, and products at a glance;
• Details of GIA’s competitive landscape, including examples of competitors and an analysis of market opportunities and threats;
• Factors that make GIA unique;
• A company “at a glance” table with key facts about GIA including revenue growth, number of employees, and selected customers;
• Essential actions for publishers and information providers in the MI market and adjacent information and publishing product landscapes.
  
  

The report is distributed to Outsell’s customers in the information industry,14 April 2008