Internet sensation Grumpy Cat recently became the latest spokesmodel for pet food retail giant Friskies.  The blue-eyed Snowshoe Siamese gained fame last year after its owners developed a quirky series of posts in social media channels including Facebook and YouTube featuring Grumpy Cat's somber facial expression framed by catchphrases such as: "I had fun once. It was awful."

With all the wikis, blogs and articles available for free on the web, it is impossible to look at the market research arena without wondering,  What makes the paid data worth more than free data?  The answer has a lot to do with what kind of information you need and who is providing that information.

Each day the Research Specialists at MarketResearch.com help people find reports that best suit their business intelligence needs. If you're a business leader who has already experienced the process of finding and acquiring market intelligence on your industry, you may wonder what we can do to help you.

The answer is, plenty.

For starters, we bring an unbiased approach to identifying the research you need to make effective strategic decisions. Second, we help you minimize risks from the unknowns that can be part and parcel of finding and purchasing business intelligence reports, in particular, the possibility that a given report may not have exactly the methodology and data-sets of information that best suit your needs. 

Jeff Miller, a Senior Research Specialist at Marketresearch.com, hails from a quintessential "Small-town  America" location, Columbus, Ohio. He now lives in New York -- another classic American city although clearly miles apart from the small-town feel of his origins.

In the past year, it seems that just about every daily news cycle contains a scary story about corporations, governments or news organizations being 'hacked."  With all of the advantages inherent with using the cloud, there are underlying questions of data security.  For example, here is a partial list of American companies hit by shadowy groups or individuals who penetrated private databases via email, social networks, or by accessing cloud data storage centers within the first few weeks of 2013:

The Pet Industry contracted slightly in the great recession, but is poised to experience several points of growth this year, according to David Lummis, a leading analyst at PackagedFacts. 

According to pet industry statistics, on Valentine's Day 2013, Americans spent more than $800 million on cupid-oriented treats for household pets. Market reports from the National Retail Federation show that tokens of love from owners to pets included everything from heart-shaped chew toys for dogs, to sleek red leather collars for cats, to edible 'flower arrangments' for dogs and cats. It's all another indication of how pet industry retailers are quickly adapting to the growing market trends of pet owners who view their four-legged friends as family members.

If you're thinking of bringing your business into the cloud computing industry, there are several key elements to consider.

During the past decade, the opportunity to relocate computing functions that are software-based to remote servers -- aka the cloud-- have multiplied rapidly.The shift from traditional software models has radically transformed flexibility and cost for many businesses. 

What do Harley-Davidson, the Parthenon Group,  and the Atlanta Gas Light Company have in common? When strategic planning officials at all three entities needed actionable business intelligence, they chose MarketResearch.com.

My name is Jeff Miller and I'm a Research Specialist at MarketResearch.com. Like most cat owners my wife and I have the most awesome cat you'll ever meet. Thirteen years ago my wife peered into a box full of crying kittens and was instantly smitten with this tiny ball of grey and white furr.

Immediately the name came to her: "Grey!" And thus she was named.

For the last 13 years we've been very lucky to have our little companion. A true friend. She's been with us through life's ups and downs and has never asked for anything in return other than fresh food, water and a little lap time.

Then something happened.

Over the course of a few months Grey began to change. It was subtle at first; a little more needy, a little less hungry. But then the changes became more dramatic until we realized that our happy-go-lucky kitty, who charmed everyone she met, was slowly changing into this hyperactive mess who couldn't hold down her meals.