William J. Donovan (1883-1959), an American lawyer and officer, who is remembered as the father of American intelligence, once said: "Strategy, without information that can be relied upon, is powerless."
As a good military strategist, Donovan recognized the importance of information in planning military strategies that would allow him two things: to be alert to possible attacks against the American nation and to avoid the presence of new enemies. It is my feeling, that from this thought, the diplomatic strategy around the world and the formation of alliances between nations is born. In the same way, with this thought, public relations positions arise and commercial alliances are also formed that strengthen companies to protect their market, and if it is possible to expand it, taking advantage of the effect that the synergy of the alliance produces, in the which "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
Business intelligence is not very far from military intelligence, as it has very similar objectives, only from a marketing perspective:
When we study the competitive model of the five market forces, by Michael Porter (a globally recognized authority on business strategy), we come to the conclusion that Porter is the Donovan of corporate strategy. Two of the five forces that Porter describes in his model are the same strategies that are used in the military field:
Marketing success, like the military one, depends on the development of a good strategy, which cannot be well conceived without correct, reliable, updated, timely and accurate information. That is the importance of business intelligence, responsible for providing the inputs for the proper decision-making of those who lead.
Information is power, but it will only be true if we know how to properly use the information we have found, because as Zygmunt Bauman, renowned Polish sociologist and philosopher, said : “over the years I have discovered that excess information is worse than its shortage." However, I think that just as the excess of it can lead to a "paralysis by analysis"Likewise, its scarcity can lead us to make the wrong decisions, which will end up subtracting financial resources from the company and in the worst case, the loss of its main customers in the hands of the competition. Therefore, it is not the amount of information obtained about the market that matters most, but its quality and relevance for decision-making, and these, aligned with the creation of strategies that allow improving the value proposition for our customers and reinforce the brand promise.
Business intelligence in the marketing area must be useful so that its leaders can know essentially the following:
It is these indicators that will help you determine whether the decisions made have been correct, as well as to support new decisions in the creation of corporate strategy, which directs the efforts of all departments within an organization.
We cannot ignore that we live in a radically changing world and that in marketing we fight daily against the " status quo" and where it is difficult to get out of the comfort zone, especially when success has been experienced. As Heraclitus of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher, said, “the only constant thing is change”, which we are seeing before our eyes, powerfully influenced by two great forces: technology and globalization.
It was these two forces that, together with business intelligence, gave Amazon the platform to become the number one bookstore in the world at the beginning, taking its place from Barnes & Nobles, (a leader in its time of category), and later, to become the world leader in e-commerce sales, going on to compete in the arena of retail giants such as Walmart, with a 33-year advantage in the market. The questions we ask ourselves, in relation to their competitors, are the following: have they seen it coming? Did they do something to stop their progress? How did their military myopia affect their financial statements? How did they modify their strategies to counteract its inevitable effect? These are questions that are still trying to be answered,as Amazon moves towards commercial leadership with a global presence, available to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and with international deliveries to more than one hundred countries around the world.
That is why we cannot assure you that the strategies used in the past will work in the present, much less in the future. The best time to change and innovate is when the organization does not need it, that is, when it is at its best, since it has the necessary resources to do so. Unfortunately, when companies begin to use business intelligence to adapt their strategies and prepare for the future, it is usually when they face a commercial crisis and a significant decrease in their profits, and by then, it is too late. As an old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth more than a kilo of cure”.I want to end this reflection, remembering the father of modern "management", Peter Drucker, when he said: "Long-term planning is not thinking about future decisions, but about the future of present decisions."
