Why research intelligence is the key to digital transformation success

As technology has improved in leaps and bounds, digital transformation has become imperative in enterprises everywhere. Broadly speaking, digital transformation has sought to use digital workflow processes and large-scale data collection to drive decision-making and move away from guesswork-based strategy management.

While organizations have successfully mobilized data collection efforts, making the most of these datasets has proved challenging. Many organizations struggle to avoid data silos and end up running analytics on incomplete data. Add to this issues such as a lack of data integrity and resources spent cleaning data, and it's easy to see why digital transformation is often halted in its tracks.

Research intelligence is the need of the hour, since it augments data collection and analytics with insights that drive change. Every organization's objective is to become more competitive, whether it's through digital transformation or any other method. Digital research intelligence reports hold the key to enhanced competitiveness.

Building customer-oriented brands

One of the great things about big data collection is that it enables orienting companies towards their customers. Thanks to collecting customer behavioral data and purchasing trends, companies can quickly figure out what their customers want and give it to them. However, analyzing customer-generated data is a tough task.

For starters, customers provide data from multiple sources, and these datasets often conflict with each other. For instance, customers might indicate they "like" a certain product on social media, but sales data might not back this up. Customers also provide a lot of unstructured data to customer service channels that can be tough to parse.

Digital research intelligence reports cut through the noise by highlighting what customers are doing, not just saying. They highlight which web pages customers visit the most, which brands they interact with on social media the most (or least), and which products they buy. Their choice of social media platform is also illuminated in these reports, and companies can use these data to position themselves better.

For instance, if a company notices a shift towards a new social media platform, it can reorient its marketing and brand messaging to appeal to the norms of the new platform. Digital intelligence reports thus give brands insight into which trends truly matter to their customers and leverage them for maximum impact.

Aligning internal data with benchmarks

Benchmarking is an important process in any marketing endeavor these days. Companies generate data, but how will they know whether their performance is good or bad? Benchmarks help them compare internal data to industry-wide benchmarks to determine performance.

The problem is, benchmark reports are tough to obtain. Even if companies manage to sponsor studies and gather industry-wide data, these datasets will turn obsolete quickly, since business landscapes change much faster than before. The best source of benchmark data is therefore a digital market intelligence report.

Not only can the data in these reports be trusted, but they're a cost-effective way to learn how markets are changing. These reports tend to account for dynamic changes in the market and always deliver top-notch insight.

By giving internal data context through benchmarking, companies can pinpoint where their performance lags and take necessary action. For instance, an omnichannel retailer might discover their e-commerce performance is lagging behind the competition, despite generating significant sales. They can examine their workflows to reorient their business and future-proof sales.

Examine competitor strategies

Digital intelligence reports highlight a competitor's best traffic sources. This is invaluable data for a company to mine since it exposes current trends in the market and the effectiveness of the competition's marketing. For instance, if a competitor has noticeably changed its marketing voice over the recent months, traffic data will reveal how effective that change has been.

By digging deeper into the data, companies can determine which platforms and sources are giving their competitor the most traffic. Does the change in tone reflect the new source? For example, does the new messaging appeal to TikTok viewers or Instagram? Shifts in marketing messaging like this reveal market trends that companies can use to boost sales and awareness.

Every industry is hit with trends that promise to be the next big thing, and deciding which trend to follow can be tough. In the past, companies had to make these decisions by feel or through intuition. These days though, data illuminates the way.

By looking at what's working for the competition, there's no need for guesswork anymore.

Identifying potential acquisitions

Every large company seeks to acquire smaller businesses to either eliminate competition or create complementary product lines. Acquisitions can be tough, though, since there's often no telling how healthy an acquiree's business is.

Digital marketing intelligence reports reveal true health, however, by giving insight into traffic, marketing effectiveness, and other trends that companies must keep an eye on.

These reports will reveal worrisome trends that might be hampering an acquiree's business. For instance, they might be relying on traffic from a source that is on the wane and doesn't appeal to new buyers. Companies can mine these data to reveal the best acquisition opportunities and spend their resources wisely.

Unlocking digital transformation

At its heart, digital transformation is about using data to reorient a business towards the customer and figure out market trends. Digital intelligence reports unlock the power of digital transformation by giving companies access to data they would otherwise struggle to gather and maintain.

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Peter Davidson works as a senior business associate helping brands and start ups to make efficient business decisions and plan proper business strategies. He is a big gadget freak who loves to share his views on latest technologies and applications.