Do you know everything you need to know?

Market research studies in the technology sector is not a common occurrence. Typical research includes studying new markets, customers or competition. Why do companies not do more of this research? Here are some reasons why: a. Known markets: Most IT service providers, from the large ones are invested heavily in the US market. Consider this – TCS has 50% of its revenues and Cognizant has over 75% of its revenues from the North American region. If North America is able to sustain these larger companies, where is the need for smaller and mid-size companies to look elsewhere? With this reasoning, companies especially service providers, rarely venture beyond these familiar territories. b. Informed field force: In the case of larger companies, the presence of a large field force usually helps gather market intelligence. Companies tend to get by with the on-the-ground intelligence. c. Lack of bandwidth: The smaller companies especially are usually one-man shows and there is little bandwidth to focus on research – the entrepreneur CEO would rather focus on chasing new opportunities than invest valuable and scarce resources in a market study. These are some typical reasons but are they sound enough? By not understanding the markets thoroughly, are we ignoring a potentially high-revenue generating opportunity? Or are we satisfied with selective bytes on competition and customers? In our view, market research is a must and this does not necessarily imply huge spends. Conversely, what we recommend is a periodic read on the markets – business opportunities, customers and competition. Say, a quarterly update would help a company be far more prepared in dealing with business demands. It would allow you to talk in an informed manner with your customer/prospect, enable you to take appropriate actions against competitor moves and also motivate you to explore new markets more frequently. Isn’t this important for healthy business growth? What do you think?

Also see more info @ http://www.prayag.com