Insight commerciality

What does it mean to be “commercial”?

Of all the territories which the IMA encourages Insight leaders to explore, Insight commerciality is the one where collectively we feel there is the most work still to do.

That’s not just a gut feeling: when benchmarked, Insight teams score an average of only 1.3 out of 3 on Insight commerciality, making this the weakest territory out of the 8 assessed in the IMA’s Insight Benchmark.

It’s time to reframe the question and change the way that Insight teams think about commerciality.

Please click here to return to the members' library

Please click here to contact us

Insight commerciality guides and videos

An introduction to Insight commerciality

IMP801: Does your Insight team get criticised sometimes for not being sufficiently commercial? If so, you're not alone. But it's time we reframed Insight teams' approach to commerciality, and put it right at the centre of our daily work so that we can guide our organisations

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.

The Value of Insight

IMP806: Early in 2021 the IMA launched the Value of Insight challenge, inviting members to put a value on their Insight. We provided workshops to share the best practice principles followed by tutorials to provide help and support along the way. This guide shares the journey that we went on

Let's talk about money - video

IMV801: Commercial thinking is vital if an Insight team is to drive value in an organisation, but all too often teams struggle to adopt it - James Wycherley offers some advice on how to do this successfully .

Value of Insight 2021 - video

IMV806: IMA adviser Julia Joskey discusses the 2021 Value of Insight project and shares some of the key learnings from our participants, including examples from two of our IMA members - Dow Jones and Talk Talk.

Value of Insight 2022 - video

IMV807: (October 2022 Insight forum topic). In this video, Jane Woolley reminds us of the essential steps for thinking commercially, and shares 5 key learnings for estimating the value of Insight