How is a Business Intelligence function different from Business Development or Market Research?
Many times the BI function is placed as a part of the Market Research department in the mistaken belief they are both the same. Not so! The basic difference is that Market Research focuses on the current market based on past behaviors. BI looks at historical information only for the purpose of understanding a competitor’s culture and to provide leads for their likely future direction. BI’s mission is to be predictive, to look for future direction and likely courses-of-action. BI looks for a competitor’s strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities for the purpose of identifying future opportunities and/or threats. There is a need for both BI and Market Research and the two disciplines can and oft times do work well together. However, decision-makers that make futuristic decisions based on market research alone are looking in the rearview mirror as opposed to the future.
