Market Intelligence and Big Data

Middle market businesses, particularly service businesses, need good market intelligence to be successful over the long term. Understanding the market and having reference points that inform your go-to-market strategy is critical. Increasingly, companies have been using Big Data to learn more about the market and their internal processes, to stay ahead of the competition. Big Data is a valuable tool that can help you reposition your business.

What is Big Data

Big Data refers to “extremely large data sets” that can be analyzed to find patterns and associations.

And these patterns and associations can be the key to your business’ success.

Though the thought process behind Big Data has been around for centuries, the term was first coined in 2005 and has been steadily rising in population ever since. On a micro-scale, think about customer feedback surveys. This is still widely used to take your customers’ pulse. Now, for a Big Data example, think about this survey sent to hundreds of thousands of customers.

The main benefactors from Big Data are industries that service a wide range of people, like the banking industry, healthcare, energy, technology, etc. But as social media continues to expand, more industries and smaller sized businesses are engaging with Big Data software.

Big Data really is a gold mine of information. With the right software, you can figure out trends in customer behavior, find growth opportunities, and even see where your business might be falling short in the marketplace.

The most obvious perk – growth opportunity – is the main reason businesses integrate with Big Data. In a world where everything is evolving, it’s important that your business stay not only current, but adapt to the changes in the market and customer need, before other competitors.

And, if you’re really doing it right, you can begin to anticipate your customers’ needs – even before they know it, themselves.

But the real draw for Big Data today is the immediacy of these analytics. Years ago, you could just export data into a spreadsheet, analyze what you find, and have the information you need. Now, though, you can get that information in a matter of minutes, facilitating your ability to change rapidly.

Every business – big, small, or midsize – benefits from valuable insights and information about itself, its customers, and the general marketplace. And while gaining access to the analytics from Big Data can cost you, it’s an investment in strategic growth, generating a large return over the long term.

In the acquisition financing arena, capital availability is destiny as companies require reliable access to capital to grow over the long term. Unforeseen capital needs usually arise when acquirers least expect it. This can cause some concern for the acquisition financing provider, especially when covenants tighten up and that working capital availability is utilized faster than expected.

Mezzanine debt borrowing is usually a straightforward activity that many companies use for funding of transitional growth. Mezzanine debt lenders are highly transparent about their due diligence approach and their post-closing loan management making it easy for companies to engage with.

Elections have consequences and positive ones at that for the acquisition financing middle market. While much media attention is paid to the direction of the yield curve and the Fed’s likely rate cuts, scant attention is paid to the more important drivers of the acquisition financing market – business psychology and regulatory climate.