ABSTRACT: In this annual assessment of BI vendor positioning, Lawson Abinanti examines why “insights” continues to dominate marketing messages—and why that’s a strategic misstep.

Possible headlines:

1. What’s the most popular position in the BI market? “Insights”
2. What’s the most popular position in the BI market? “Insights” for the second year in a row
3. “Insights” continues to be the most popular position in the BI market

Copy:

“Insights” is a good word ruined by overuse.

When I was on the management team of TM1 Software (now owned by IBM) we came up with the tagline “Insights on Demand.” Back then (1992) no one was claiming “insights.”

Now, there is no way I’d let my clients use “insights” anywhere in any marketing communications because by using it they blend in.

“Insights” means gaining knowledge and understanding. Use those words when you can but avoid use of “insights” because everyone is claiming “insights.”

Evidence of overuse of “insights” is the Business Intelligence (BI) market.

Nine of 20 vendors claim “insights” in my annual assessment of the positioning effectiveness of the leading BI vendors.

What this tells us is that at least nine BI vendors ignore their competitors’ positions.

This is the second year in a row when nine BI vendors claim “insights.” Interestingly, two moved away from “insights” and two changed their position to “insights.”

Domo changed its position from “insights” to “build data products that drive action—powered by AI” while MicroStrategy (now Strategy) changed from “insights” to “the only solution you’ll ever need.”

Oracle and SAP joined the “insights” crowd of seven other vendors and likely will compete against some or all of them. When that happens, expect long sales cycles if not worse.

That’s because the decision-making portion of the brain is looking for a reason to make a quick decision. Contrast or differentiation helps the brain make faster decisions, according to Neuromarketing.

Lack of differentiation causes buyer confusion, dreaded price wars or even worse no decision.

Here is how the BI vendors included in this assessment are positioned relative to each other (as of June 3); later in this assessment is a competitive map of the nine “insights” claims:

A position is the mental space in your target audience’s mind that you can occupy with a benefit claim that solves a pressing target audience problem. It’s in this mental space where your solution to that problem meet and form a meaningful relationship.

The question is whether the vendors with different positions matter to the market, i.e., they benefit the buyer?

Use my “So what?” test on each vendor claim to decide for yourself.

Ask “So what?” and if the answer is a higher-level benefit then the position should have never seen the light of day.

Test the “So what?’ test on the following vendors’ positions:

The only solution you’ll ever need – Strategy

Do Data Differently – Qlik

Integrate AI-assisted analytics capabilities wherever your users need them – GoodData

Makes modeling, visualizing, customizing, and integrating analytics effortless – Sisense

Put data at the center of your business transformation – Google BI

Analytics at the speed of business – Pyramid

Some may think that the vendors claiming “insights” differentiate by clever or unique wording and context. I seriously doubt it. Buyers won’t make the distinction.

Plus “insights” is a buzzword due to overuse as explained at the beginning of this assessment.

Here are the many ways BI vendors are trying to claim “insights:”

Describing what you do is not a position

It’s good that Domo moved away from its “insights” position. The problem is that the new position – “build data products that drive action—powered by AI” – describes what Domo does and that’s not a position.

Google also describes what it does – “A new generation of business Intelligence services on the cloud” – and therefore also has no position.

Here’s two simple steps BI vendors might consider adopting to do well in next year’s assessment:

Step 1 – Determine how your competitors are positioned – they do it in public!

Step 2 – Come up with a believable positioning statement that solves a pressing target audience problem, and no other competitor is claiming it. 

About the author: Lawson Abinanti is a positioning and messaging consultant with extensive hands-on experience in many B2B software and technology markets. He has been on the management team of several companies including TM1 Software, now owned by IBM. He has been responsible for positioning or helped position product categories including BI, CRM, FP&A (financial planning & analysis), ERP and data security to name a few.