Every industry views market research differently. It's necessity, functionality and delivery vary by market, adapting to each industry's specific intelligence needs. However, the reality is that market research is far more easily obtained and applied in certain fields than in others. Probably the most difficult industries to successfully accomplish this are those that run on a project-to-project basis. This ultimately boils down to their fast-paced, ever-changing nature. For instance, just take a look at the Business Services and Banking industries. Whether dealing in private equity, insurance, banking or strategy consulting, these markets' focus is dedicated to high-pressure, project-based needs. So, in order to understand how market research can be used within these types of industries, you have to assess and overcome a variety of challenges.

Every morning, I check my phone, just as millions of us do, to see the email in-box displaying a delightful red dot with a figure proudly displayed. For me, that figure is generally in the twenties or thirties. I open my e-mail in anticipation that today’s deliveries will all be exciting and relevant to what I’m focused on. I’m disappointed; it’s a jumble of non-relevant spam dross. Why don’t I delete all?

Because, just maybe somewhere in there is an email from Profound.com. That informative and precisely relevant email will be focused on a current project or industry that I need information on. Why do I seek out this golden nugget of an email? Well, because I told it precisely what I needed to be contained within it. It took me minutes to set up, and that investment was invaluable. How did I do it? By using the highly customized features on my Profound.com market research solution. But, why did I invest my valuable minutes?

After purchasing a market research solution, in order to get the most value from your investment, you need to evaluate your usage. But, how do you optimize your platform most effectively? Whether you have a subscription-based solution or a buy-by-the-slice platform, you need to fully understand its features and how to take advantage of them. That is why at MarketResearch.com, we have multiple Application Specialists who work closely with our platform customers to ensure you are optimizing your usage and the solution's features to reach the highest potential value for your business.

I am always amazed that through science man has determined that the universe is between 14-15 billion years old and, even more astounding, is the calculation for the Universe’s expansion. So, why was it that, at the Perfect Information Conference in 2012, 30 leading information professionals with hundreds of years of experience between them could not come up with the answer to a simple question: What is the ROI (return on investment) from market research? Is this the information industry's holy grail? Maybe…..

Let’s consider this in another way. If there are too many variables to determine which piece of data or knowledge proved pivotal in the launch of a new product or successful investment, then consider this: Where was the value derived? 

This past week, MarketResearch.com gave a facelift to its premier corporate research platform, Profound. Business intelligence has a new look with Profound's fresh new user interface. But, we’re not doing it just to look pretty. The new design revamps the navigation and functional menus and cleans up many of the pages that our users have told us were misleading or outdated.