Keeping pace with the competition in the age of AI

Many lofty claims have been made in the last couple of years about how technology, and AI in particular, is going to ‘transform’ business and ‘level the playing field’ for small businesses by allowing them to keep pace with the competition.  But is it true? 

We recently conducted a survey that found only 53 per cent of UK small businesses regularly collect or use competitor or market information. In other words, this means that almost half could be losing business to competitors due to lack of any meaningful competitor tracking.  

When the same survey shows that the vast majority of these businesses, almost 90 per cent, assume that their competitors are actively using business intelligence data, this seems even stranger.  So what is going on?  Surely in the mature stages of the information age, with rapid advances in AI, it has never been easier to collect data about customers, competition and anything else that you might need to know? 

Information Overload 

In fact, this information revolution may have been overstated. Of those who actually are regularly collecting data, our survey found that the majority (72%) are still using spreadsheets to store the information, and more than half (58%) simply use written documents, such as Microsoft Word.  

This highlights a disconnect between the intentions of many small business owners and their day-to-day actions, perhaps because of a gap in strategic thinking.   The fact that many are still not meaningfully tracking markets or competitors, instead relying on 20th Century data storage even though they assume their competitors are using Business Intelligence platforms, points to a ‘head in the sand’ mentality, in all likelihood due to feeling overwhelmed. 

Once Bitten.. 

One way to tackle something that feels overwhelming or beyond your skill set is to outsource.  But again, this isn’t always as simple as it seems. For example, almost half (43%) of those we surveyed that had commissioned business data research subsequently found it unusable either because the technical person collecting the data ‘misunderstood the brief’ or that the data was too complex or the data set too narrow. 

Despite this, most (89%) agreed that business intelligence is worth paying for.  This may seem like another example of disconnected strategic thinking but I actually believe it demonstrates an appetite among smaller businesses to access better information in order to make smarter business decisions. They are aware that they don’t have the right tools at their disposal but still know in their hearts they need to keep pace with a fast-evolving technical landscape, despite many having been badly let down in their previous attempts to draft in outside help.  

Bridging the gap 

While vendors and consultants certainly have a role to play in guiding these smaller, less tech-savvy, organisations through the complexities of online data, it is also important that SME owners investigate the new opportunities open to them.  Without some initial benchmarking or at least a working understanding of their competitors, no business, regardless of size, can expect to embark on a serious competitor analysis leading to a successful commercial strategy. As the old adage goes “rubbish in, rubbish out” (or words to that effect) and the same applies here, so it pays to know what you’re looking for before engaging with third parties to help. 

From our perspective, the fact that when someone opens their browser they automatically go straight to AI opens the door so that everyone will gain more of an understanding of what data extraction can do.  Users will make the connection between an automatic search, analysis and purchase and the data scraping that is going on behind the scenes.  This will result in a greater understanding and acceptance of data scraping.  

Like us, others in the data industry want people to understand what is possible. The more people comprehend, the more the fear around data intelligence will dissipate and there is so much information out there now and more and more companies will be trying to capitalise on it, from real estate listings to price comparisons and new product launches.   

Getting ahead 

Once understood, and effectively employed, these technologies can help automate the collection of competitive intelligence, industry trends, and crucial insights, populating databases to provide accurate insights for businesses. From there, business leaders can use it to strategically monitor price, generate leads and many other functions that can drive competitive advantage such as sentiment analysis, other market research, and even data collection for LLM training. 

Like any technology tools, data extraction, even at a sophisticated level, is just that.  A tool.  It’s just a much better tool than those that came before it.  So, if you’re still one of those businesses still keeping their data in spreadsheets while your competitors embrace AI, it’s a bit like trying to overtake a car in a horse and carriage.  A race you can’t possibly win.