| dc.description.abstract | The marketing management process and the marketing mix can be complex. Effective marketing planning requires not only intelligence on customers but also intelligence across a
wide spectrum of areas such as product lifecycle and supply chain. The reality is that,
strategic marketers struggle to get information from diverse parts of the business for analysis
and decision making. This ultimately leads to untimely, inaccurate and unreliable decision
making. The power of Business Intelligence is to combine data from diverse areas of the
business into a single version of the truth referred to as enterprise data warehouse. Once this
is achieved data can be pooled and turned into information. Many companies have minimum
information about their customers. Such customer could be people who started using a given
product while seeking a solution for an apparently unrelated need. These typical customers
represent an untapped opportunity to grow the business in a new direction at minimal risk and
cost, thereby achieving competitive advantage. The aim of strategic marketing is to know and
understand the customer so well and match the product or service to their needs.
Understanding of customer information and trends can be achieved using Business
Intelligence. In today's business environments, organizations have to utilize their full
potential to continuously improve and become more competitive in portfolio analysis,
portfolio balancing and performance measurement. BI and analytical tools have become a
necessity for organizations to help them make informed decisions from data gathered. This
data can be collected from different systems namely; ERP, CRM, transaction systems and any
other system that contains information about the customer and Marketing mix elements. BI
tools play a vital role in the simplification of such complex operations and presenting unified
reports. Activities such as monitoring of business processes, analysis and presentation of the
large volume of data and execution of marketing strategies can be measured for their
effectiveness using Business Intelligence. In addition, Business Intelligence can be used in
enforcing product cross selling and analyzing of marketing mix elements for profitability
purposes. This research was aimed at exploring the effectiveness of Business Intelligence in
strategic marketing to empower marketers and directors with the right information at the right
time for subsequent decision making. It discusses in detail about how business intelligence
could be used by marketers in order to carry out customers' segmentation for the purpose of
understanding the customer better. This research also looked at the effectiveness of Business
Intelligence in measuring the organization's performance and opportunities available in
the market. The research depicts how Business Intelligence aids in exploring ways of
increasing profitability through the use of information and analyzing the market potential in
terms of sales forecasting. The research adopted a case study research design and primary
data collection method through an interview guide. The researcher interviewed two
executives from ARM Cement. Content analysis method was used to analyze the data
collected from the respondents since it is qualitative in nature. The organization under study
encountered the following problems in strategic marketing. Firstly, there was inaccurate,
untimely and unreliable reporting. Secondly, the company adopted sales oriented strategies as
opposed to marketing oriented strategies and finally, the organization's goals were not
measured using information as a guide. Furthermore, the external environment is becoming
more competitive through the entrants of new players in the market. Business Intelligence
was recommended for effective strategic marketing in the organization to support timely,
accurate and reliable reporting. Moreover, marketers would benefit from targeted marketing
initiatives, efficient media selection and simplified analysis of Return on Investment. This
could aid in achieving sustainable competitive advantage and attaining customer retention in
the organization. | en_US |
