Understanding history makes the future better!
Every business or organization needs a growth strategy to boost its position in the market. Among these strategies, implementing competitive intelligence also plays an important role. Competitive intelligence, the word itself, indicates an understanding of competition.
There are several strategies that competitive intelligence includes, among them leveraging historical data.
But what exactly is competitive intelligence? What is historical data? How is this historical data used?
Hence, many more questions to dig deeper. Therefore, we are here to answer all your questions through this blog.
Understanding Competitive Intelligence
Competitive Intelligence is collecting and analyzing information about business competitors, also known as market intelligence or corporate intelligence.
Strategic plans of businesses and organizations are affected by industry trends and competitive environments. In other words, these businesses are required to be knowledgeable about the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors to improve their organizational performance.
Understanding the competitive environment and making decisions to gain a competitive advantage, competitive intelligence is an essential component to developing a business strategy.
The companies collect information about competitors, market trends, customers, and business environments and analyze this information practically, systematically, and ethically.
Therefore, competitive intelligence helps businesses understand the opportunities and challenges presented to them in the market. Several strategies are included in the competitive intelligence to take a holistic approach toward creating effective business practices:
Identifying Competitors in Competitive Intelligence
Identifying the real competitors, their strategies, past performances, and market values is the crucial step of having a competitive intelligence.
Understanding Market Trends in Competitive Intelligence
Gathering and analyzing the data trends within the market, including online reviews, social media, industry reports, competitor websites, and customer feedback.
Strategic Plannings in Competitive Intelligence
All things considered, using competitive intelligence for long-term strategic planning and decision-making, enhancing product positioning, and identifying new markets and business development opportunities.
What is Historical Data in competitive intelligence?
The collection of records, transactions, and events that have been systematically recorded over time encompassing a wide range of information, market trends, and operations is Historical Data.
Historical Data is the information collected about past strategies and working patterns of competitors and market trends within the industry.
This includes past product launches, marketing campaigns, pricing strategies, market share, and customer feedback of the companies or organizations.
Competitive intelligence requires historical data that enables businesses, organizations, and researchers to understand past trends, practices, and strategies of their competitors within the market dynamics, helping them to make productive decisions by analyzing competitor actions.
However, the sources of historical data include competitors’ websites, press releases, news articles, financial reports, market research data, industry reports, and customer feedback.
Leveraging Historical data to boost competitive intelligence
To emerge completely as a success and build strategies any business, organization, or researcher must understand the history of their competitors, their market, and industry.
Effectively using and analyzing historical data is essential for anticipating future trends and identifying opportunities within the business or organization.
Following are the ways by which historical data helps to boost competitive intelligence:
Identifying Trend Patterns
Historical data can help identify the long-term trend patterns of any competitors. Analyzing product introductions, price planning, long-term strategies, etc.
The recurring strategic patterns of the competitors can help in allowing businesses to anticipate future actions and market improvements.
Analyze Competitor Strategies
For making any major decision you must look at the mistakes and drawbacks caused by the competitors, which helps in understanding their strategies better and analyzing their strengths.
To increase the pace of Market intelligence a complete understanding of the market is a must. For example, a business before publishing or launching any product or service should do a complete analysis of past product launches, pricing, and marketing strategies looking into what worked and what didn’t for the competitors.
Detecting Market Trends
Understanding the different factors that affected the market trends in the past. For example, economic factors, technological advancements, and customer feedback.
- Economic factors affect the financial aspects of the business which considers the profits or losses.
- Technological factors are the innovations and advancements that occur from time to time bringing more development in the industries.
- Customer feedback or remarks are a crucial factor in the development of any business or organization as the market works on consumer demands.
Developing Competitive Strategies
By analyzing historical data, businesses can anticipate competitor moves to develop more effective and data-driven competitive strategies.
Analyzing past performances and data of the competitors involves looking at the overall direction of competitors, including their goals, investments, strategic partnerships, and potential market moves.
Predicting Better Future Outcomes
By studying the past performances of competitors, better forecasting of outcomes can be conducted. It reduces the chances of poor decision-making and increases the potential to improve the development of the organization or business.
In either case, forecasting enables an improved competitive intelligence strategy and provides a more informed foundation for future planning to gain better results.
How to fetch different types of Historical Data for competitive intelligence?
To elevate competitive intelligence or market intelligence, a business or organization needs to fetch historical data systematically.
Historical Data can be in the form of News data, Statistical data, documents, past business events, stock prices, marketing activities etc.
You can fetch this data from various sources that are available worldwide.
- Several News APIs like NewsData.io, Google News API, etc provide historical data in multiple categories.
- For statistical data, you can go through Kaggle, Statistica, etc.
- Documents can be collected from competitors’ websites and documentation.
- Databases like Hoovers or Mintel provide access to company profiles, market data, and industry reports.
Why only Historical data is not enough for competitive intelligence?
Not only historical data or past updates are enough; real-time data is required to enhance competitive intelligence. Real-time data or current updates from competitors keep you in sight of present moments and trends.
Keeping track of Real-time data is also important to identify opportunities in the market competition.
Let us break down the limitations of solely relying upon historical data and the importance of real-time data.
Trend Analysis
Real-time data keeps you updated with all the trends and ongoing market demands.
For example, a business can analyze the present demands of the market which will help them to improve their strategies and work for the respective operation.
Quick Decision Making
Businesses and organizations can make choices quickly by reacting to the latest, live updates and trends. They can even change their decisions based on changing situations or new opportunities.
Competitive Advantage
Having insight into competitive intelligence gives an advantage in understanding competitors, knowing what is happening right now can let you make decisions. It can be a win over competitors and make you prepared for better outcomes.
Improved Customer Experience
If customer preferences are kept in point in real-time, businesses can provide them with improved experience fulfilling their demands. This will help in the growth and customer satisfaction of the business.
Conclusion
Historical data can be useful to enhance the competitive intelligence of any business or organization for their upliftment in the market. Competitive intelligence not only helps in strategic planning but also improves the position of the business in the industry.
Moreover, to boost competitive intelligence, any business organization or researcher must discover how historical data and real-time data can give your business or organization the competitive edge it needs to succeed.
Through this blog, we understood the importance of understanding the past such as the history of your competitors, your market, and your industry, which is essential for making any decision.
Competitive intelligence is an understanding of strategic operations used for obtaining a respective position in the industry.
Knowing your competitor’s move is just a short-term play to anticipate future trends and identify opportunities before they fully emerge.
Hello! I’m Aditi Chaudhary. I’m an enthusiastic student of Journalism & Mass Communication, currently working as content writer for Newsdata.io . Here I will be updating you with current topics related to Newsdata, News API & several relevant topics. I’m here to develop my skills and knowledge and leverage my creativity into my work.
