Customer Intelligence versus Market Intelligence

It has been my mission from the inception of this blog to address the business side of Business Intelligence. It was not my intention to become yet another technology-driven blog about "how-to" details, as there are plenty of them about already. There are also plenty of forums and channels that work the marketing side. Not just products, but evangelizing of methodologies, tools, architectures. My aim is more along the lines "teach a person how to fish", not cut-and-paste silver bullets. If I can stir debate, make people think, then I have realized my mission.

People can get worked up on terminology and semantics, as if the goal was to create ambiguity, versus resolving it. There is...

• Business Intelligence, 
• Customer Intelligence, 
• Operational Intelligence, 
• Market Intelligence,
• Competitive Intelligence 
• Social Intelligence, etc.

Let's face it, if you are interested in "Business Intelligence", chances are you look at this from a company perspective, representing a business function. The term "Business" itself can be very ambiguous.

Business, as in...

1. a company (legally, organizationally, transactionally)
2. conducting commerce (buying/selling/trading goods, expertise or labor/services)
3. value (transactional activity, "thank you for your business")
4. mission ("we are in the business of...")
5. participation ("this will put us out of business!")

There are way more scenarios than the few I listed, but my point is to emphasize that the perspective, the context  in which you consider "business" intelligence matters.

When you are involved with the broader concept of Business Intelligence, what is it that you're really after?

• Operational insight in your business? -> Operational Intelligence
• Insights into customer behavior? -> Customer Intelligence
• Understanding of the competitive environment? -> Competitive Intelligence
• Identifying opportunities -> Market Intelligence

It is important to distinguish, and be aware what your focus is with your B.I. inspired Analytics initiatives.
They are obviously all business-related, given your professional role and interest. Operations, customers, markets, competition are all business concepts, in a way a subset of Business Intelligence. Just like national intelligence services have multiple purposes, such as, for example, security, defense, economic, political.

So consider Business Intelligence just the umbrella term, but be mindful of the specific focus your B.I. initiatives are after. Don't let the marketing terms confuse your core interest.


One of the hottest topics in the Business Intelligence realm is so called "Customer Intelligence". There is strong desire, and incentive, for a business to understand its customers. Merely "knowing" a customer is a very traditional concept, and was a natural given throughout ages when commerce was conducted only local and in-person. The customer "knowledge" challenge has become more pertinent in the age of logistical distribution of labor, and the proliferation of online market places. What a successful business really needs to have is a good "understanding" of its customer base.

Concepts like understanding customer behavior need to be carefully communicated, as from a customer perspective, the term "customer behavior" hints at being monitored, raising privacy concerns. And even the perception of privacy issues, hurts a business' reputation, which in itself is a competitive value, just as intelligence.

Customer Intelligence manifests itself typically in terms of understanding patterns of

• acquisition of new customers (e.g. advertising, referrals)
• conversion (turning shoppers into buyers)
• retention (loyalty, repeat purchases, maintain relationships)

So what is Market Intelligence then? It is not my goal here to impose meanings on terms. As always, I prefer to stimulate thoughts around the concepts, not so much the wording.

What means "market" anyway? 

In the context of our Business Intelligence scoped considerations here, it implies...

• a potential customer base (specific interest/demand in products, services)
• our company's specialty ("we serve the tools market")
• opportunity (potential to produce and market something in an unproven but valuable space)

Customer Intelligence is very focused, and can be a subset of Market Intelligence. The majority of the effort in figuring out customer behavior is not so much in tracking what customers are doing, but why. From a provider of services or goods it is immensely valuable to understand what customer want. But even more so, what motivates them, what is their underlying interest in a product or service. Tracking behavior can be largely automated in the age of online transaction. But the underlying dynamics of what leads people to buy is a more tricky subject, and a rewarding challenge for any Business Analyst and Analytics initiative.

Customer Intelligence tends to have more tangible qualities, seems to be more straight forward to address, and Market Intelligence might be a natural progression after that. Also, depending on the maturity of your business, your interest in C.I. vs. M.I. can vary. For example, startup businesses might more likely be interested in exploring market opportunities. Established businesses would benefit more from maintaining good relations with their existing customer base, not just from a loyalty standpoint, but also as potential referrers of new business by word of mouth.

Again, the details are debatable, what matters more is the conceptual awareness, to help you focus your B.I. efforts along the proper lines.