Insight leader guides

Bite-sized best practice!

Whether you want to improve your company's ability to generate new insights, write an Insight strategy, or transform your organisation's commercial success through Insight, you can now access a series of Insight leader guides that take you through the IMA's proprietary Insight Roadmap one step at a time.

The best place to get an overview of the Insight Roadmap and its core 8 territories is the first guide, IMP001 - An Introduction to Successful Insight Management which is also linked below (please scroll down to view).

Once you are familiar with the Insight Roadmap's 8 key territories, you can then start delving into territory-specific best practice, one chunk at a time.

Insight leader guides are already available for the Insight Strategy and Insight Commerciality territories, and new guides will be added every month.

If your registered employer has Forum, Network or Digital IMA membership, you will be notified as and when new guides become available, and you can access online copies of the published guides if you are logged in.

If your organisation is not yet a member, please take a look at our membership options or contact us for more information.

The latest Insight leader guides

An introduction to successful Insight management

IMP001: The very first Insight leader guide to be published, this is an introduction to the many ways in which the most progressive corporate Insight teams have made themselves effective.

An introduction to Insight strategy

IMP501: If you want Insight to transform your organisation's performance, you first have to transform your Insight team, but very few companies have a comprehensive plan for making this happen. The first of 5 IMA bite-sized guides on the topic of Insight strategy.

An introduction to Insight commerciality

IMP801: Rather than debating whether Insight teams should be more commercial, the question is rather how can Insight improve your organisation’s commercial understanding? The first of 5 IMA bite-sized guides on the topic of Insight commerciality.

How to build a commercial foundation for Insight

IMP802: Insight teams need a commercial foundation in order to help improve their organisation’s performance. This guide explores the 4 corner stones crucial to establishing a solid commercial foundation for all the work the Insight function does.

How to identify commercial value

IMP803: If Insight is to have the influence it should with decision-makers, Insight teams need to become “fluent in finance” – even in not-for-profit and public sector organisations. This guide lays out simple valuation techniques to help Insight teams to analyse and think in commercial terms.

How to apply commercial thinking in Insight

IMP804: To really make an ongoing difference, an Insight team has to adopt a commercial mindset in its everyday activities, applying the understanding it has developed to the way it operates. This guide lays out the 3 key ways in which Insight teams make this business as usual.

An introduction to Insight return on investment

IMP805: Putting a value to Insight has been a kind of Holy Grail for the industry for a long time, with the view that it can’t really be done. However, the IMA strongly believes that you can, and this guide will show you why the IMA believes so, as well as how to go about it.

How to identify the opportunity for Insight

IMP502: Part of having a successful Insight strategy is having a well-articulated vision for how Insight will make a difference within your organisation. This guide outlines the 6 key steps that will help you to first understand the lie of the land.

How to define your ambition for Insight

IMP503: Now that you understand the lie of the land, it is time to reflect on the status quo as well as your ambition to for Insight to change that situation. The IMA's Insight Participation Matrix will help frame your vision for the role you want Insight to play in your company.

How to identify options for your Insight team

IMP504: Like any other department, an Insight team will operate within certain parameters, for example carrying out work of a certain type, within a certain budget. This guide lays out the 7 key choices that effective Insight teams make explicitly to define those parameters.

How to execute an Insight strategy

IMP505: This is where the rubber hits the road - you can formulate a brilliant strategy, but unless you can execute it, you might as well not have bothered. This guide shares best practice for what is essentially organisational change management.