Abstract on Marketing Intelligence System for a Media Company

Manipal Media Network Limited is a subsidiary of Manipal Group which specializes in printing and publications. Udayavani, the flagship publication of the MMNL is a leading daily Kannada newspaper. Its subscriptions reach most cities of Karnataka including Mangalore, Bangalore and Gulbarga. Its first issue was in 1971 and it continues to grow daily reaching more than 300,000 houses. BUSINESS STRATEGY MMNL has always tried to maintain the values of its shareholders and customers against its competition. MMNL strives to be a Multi-media Corporation, making its presence felt across several platforms including print, e-papers among others delivering local news and entertainment solutions. The strategy of the IT team of MMNL is consistently aligned with the overall strategy of the company.

This is done by the higher management who believe that IT plays an integral part in proving a competitive advantage. The IT team has provided MMNL with various solutions ahead of its time such as iTunes’ first Kannada Application, the first Kannada News Android App and has entered into partnerships with media leaders such as Yahoo and Newshunt. The IT team has also ensured that MMNL is a leader in delivering news on online platforms such as Android, IOS and Web. Along with this, it has developed internal MIS systems and also worked hand in hand with companies like 4CPlus for successful ERP implementations in numerous areas.

By implementing Market Intelligence Database System which will help us in storing the data in a structured format and providing management with quality information which will give them a better insight for efficient decision making. Strategic Alignment Model Alignment of business and IT strategy: The overall business strategy of MMNL is to be a multi media corporation with presence across platforms delivering hyper local news and entertainment solutions. The IT team works in alignment with this overall strategy and strives to provide cutting edge technology solutions that are ahead in time, however keeping the cost aspect in perspective. Some of the results of their effort is - ITunes first Kannada App, First Kannada News App on Android, Partnership with global leaders like Yahoo and Newshunt.

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Since many readers today have access to internet and spend a lot of time on it, the industry feels that there might be a shift from traditional newspaper to online platforms. However, this should take a decade's time or so. MMNL being a leader in coastal in Karnataka sees this as an opportunity to be leader on online platforms as well like Android, IOS, Web. Alignment of business and IT capabilities: In order to align the business capabilities with IT capabilities, we have provided a suggestion to use IT capabilities in order to improve business processes and using IT tools to promote customer loyalty. The marketing intelligence system proposed by us is a step towards accomplishing this objective. Alignment of business strategy and business capabilities: In order to align the business strategy with business capabilities, social architecture tools can be formulated.

The existing resources and capabilities should be fully utilized in order to implement the business strategy. Training and motivating the workforce and incentivizing the workforce on successful completion of strategic objectives and goals are the means towards achieving it. Alignment of IT strategy and IT capabilities: When it comes to internal strategy, the IT team has developed internal MIS system and also engaged with an external agency for ERP implementation which has been done successfully in many areas.

This proves that the current IT capabilities are quite robust and can be further utilized to drive business growth. Alignment of IT strategy and capabilities can be achieved by having a cross-functional team of managers with expertise is IT knowledge and business knowledge so as to leverage the full potential of its IT capabilities. The major competitors to Udayavani are Prajavani, Vijay Karnataka, Kannada Prabha, Sanjevani among others. This leads to major emphasis being placed on gathering and use of market intelligence as the competition is cut throat.

Marketing Intelligence includes everyday information relevant to a company, collate and analyze the obtained information for subsequent decision-making in determining market opportunities, risks and strategies. The system is to be designed for usage by the management of the company and can be viewed by all the employees of the company. This specifically enables the management to see current key performance factors in real time and analyze trends, rather than wait for analysts to deliver periodic reports.

Market Intelligence is a subset of Business Intelligence which is a set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information. Market related data reaches the company through various sources. The lower level of the organisation consists of executives and trainees who visit distributors on a daily basis. The sources of information could be by a company employees or special agents and the mode of information is mainly through phone calls, SMS, email or through other market sources.

The bulk of the information is however gathered by these lower level executives from the distributors and hawkers usually during the early hours of the morning. The information consists of competitors strategies with respect to: Advertising space, Insertions of pamphlets, Change of content in existing publications (page design) Emergence of new newspapers (VRL publication) Distributors margins Expansion by competitors in new territories Subscription rate

Manipal Institute of Communication conducts yearly market research on behalf of MMNL which gives them insight into the new trends and expectations from customers and distributors. MMNL presently maintains individual excel sheets for each of its competitors. The assistant managers are tasked with collating and compiling the data given to them by the executives. This data is maintained according to: Source of information and context Findings Employee entering data and Employee validating the data

The data is validated through multiple sources in different regions and also through cross-verification. Example: Data collected in Mangalore will be cross-checked with similar repeating data from Udupi and Manipal. Due to such disparate sources, data comes in various formats, due to which collation of data is very difficult. Also, it is difficult to comprehend this data and bringing it into a common platform may distort it. Since information is not properly structured, it may get distorted while sharing between various departments and its interpretation could be different by different people.

The problem faced by MMNL is on three levels. Lack of structure- Data reaching the company is unstructured and in fragmented form. It makes the data difficult to comprehend. Since data is of strategic importance, it could have high impact on company’s future strategy or decision. Transfer of data – Data leakage during the transfer of data is the biggest problem faced by MMNL. The executives at the lower level who pass the data to the managerial level use their discretion and pass the data what they feel is important instead of all the data gathered.

This leads to loss of data which may turn out to be important. Accessibility – MMNL has data of the past 8-9 years which is stored using excel sheets. A separate excel sheet is maintained for every company. Whenever the company has to check some data it has to go through all the files which is a cumbersome process. Acceptance – When a new system is implemented people may not be ready to accept it. They may be anxious about what the change may lead to. Few options that are present to address the issue of data leakage faced by MMNL are:  Toll-free number – The company can acquire a toll free number on which the executives will call and/or SMS the data which will be recorded through an automated system.

If this is implemented the executives will not have to take extra efforts to pass on the data to their managers which in turn it will minimize any data leakage. The costs associated are: BSNL – Cost is Rs. 1. 60/minute. Initial Cost: Rs. 13000 (Rs. 10000 refundable) Fixed monthly cost: Rs. 1000 * Tata – Cost is Rs. 39/minute Initial Cost: Rs. 30000 (Rs. 25000 refundable) Fixed monthly cost: Rs. 3000 Reliance – Cost is Rs. 20/minute Initial Cost: Rs 13000 (Rs. 10000 refundable) Fixed monthly cost: Depends on usage. Incentives - Keeping the existing system of personally reporting the data to managers in place, incentives can be provided periodically based on quantity and quality of data. This will ensure that executives are encouraged to pass on every piece of available information. If the toll-free system is implemented by MMNL then it can provide incentives to executives who report the data.

The problem of unreliable data will not arise as the data will be validated from sources in different regions. Training and development - MMNL can perform training and development programs which are imperative to mould the staff in accordance with the company’s strategy. A company’s sales force is very crucial for the intelligence-gathering activity as they can provide excellent data about the current trends in the market. They are also a very credible source for acquiring confidential data about competitors, consumers, suppliers etc.

For sales force outside Manipal and Udupi, a trainer can be made to tour different parts of the country. Network Externally - In order to keep a tab on its competitors, measures should be taken to track how competitors are performing. For this, purchasing the competitor's products, checking their advertising campaigns, the press media coverage, reading their published reports, etc can be done. This process is called Competitive intelligence which is the broader discipline of researching, analyzing and formulating data and information from the entire competitive environment of any organization. . Collect Competitive Intelligence through customer feedback - Customer feedback is an important aspect for any company as it is the customer who purchases the product.

Online platforms like chat rooms, blogs, discussion forums, customer review boards etc can be used to generate customer feedback. This enables the company to understand its customer’s view about the product. For this, a structured system can be applied by the company to obtain the relevant data. Manipal Institute of Communications does yearly surveys to find out changing customer perceptions regarding MMNL. . For the issue of accessibility MMNL can implement a database. The centralised database will be in the following format: * The basic cost for a database system is around Rs. 1. 5 lakhs but depending on the different features needed by MMNL the cost can vary. The database form can be opened at any time by the employees. A static link will be provided. Our centralized database system will be decided into 2 main categories: The employees can enter the intelligence acquired on internal matters in this section.

The data entered here will be like delivery problems, supply chain problems etc. There will be a form asking them what are the issues and the department it relates to. In this form the employee will have to enter intelligence pertaining to: In this form the employee will have to enter intelligence pertaining to: Name of the company. The database will also have a verification code. Every employee will be given a unique code which he has to enter before submitting the intelligence data. This will secure the database and will also eliminate the possibility of anyone entering data wrongly under the name of any other person. The problem of acceptance can be addressed in the following manner: Involvement of employees Involving them in regards to the various incentives on offer will help reduce the anxiety to change; this will also help in building loyalty.

The employees can be involved through inputs about the functions needed by them in the database system. Workshops – MMNL can conduct workshops in the initial months after the implementation of the database system and the toll free number. MMNL has a very good track record in the implementation of new technological systems. Whenever the company has implemented a new technology system the implementation took place glitch free. The company has implemented Kannada news app on android and also it has tie-ups with Yahoo and Newshunt. The company is also in the process of implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The implementation of this is going smoothly. This leads us to believe that ability to execute a new system will be high at MMNL and thus the new system will fall in sustainability risk.

But, whenever a new IT system is implemented there is always an implementation risk ecause there might be social and technological problems. Social problems which can arise are that employees may be anxious about the new system. They may be anxious about the fact whether they will be able to use that system properly or not and if not then will they be fired from their jobs. Technological problems that may arise are compatibility problems with the legacy systems and maintenance problems. Thus, we say that the new system will be in the implementation risk of the strategic grid.

Current position Position after implementation (pg. no. 37, chapter 1,Corporate Information & Strategy Management) The marketing intelligence gathered from various sources is currently passed around in the office informally through Word of Mouth and excel sheets. This leads to the data being fragmented, lost and getting distorted. As a result of this it is not accessible to everyone and does not provide the correct point of view. Due to this lack of accessibility, management is not able to take any timely strategic decisions.

This also does not help the company much in its business operations. We can say that current system of MMNL is in the SUPPORT quadrant of McFarlan’s Grid. This is because the system does not impact the business operations as well as its strategic decisions. After the Marketing Intelligence database system is implemented, the data will be stored in one centralized location. This will help in easy accessibility of the data. The company officials can then access this data at anytime and use it to take strategic decisions.

Since the data is about competitors and the market which will help in taking important strategic decisions. The implementation of the system will not lead to any change in the business operations of the company. Thus, the system, once implemented should move from the current support position to the quadrant of the McFarlan’s Grid. Implementation of Market Intelligence Database System at MMNL will not lead to any tangible benefits as the decisions taken by management on the market intelligence acquired cannot be known at the moment.

The implementation of the system at MMNL will only lead to intangible benefits. The benefits that arise will be: The data will all be present in one place which will help the management to take better decisions. The company employees will save a lot of time if the data is present in one place with options of search. It will give the company a competitive advantage as very few media networks have such a system present at the moment. 4. The storage of data will help the company in making a wide database which can be used for analytics in the future.

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