Insight commerciality

What does it mean to be “commercial”? 

Of all the territories which the IMA encourages Insight leaders to explore, Insight commeciality 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 4.9 points out of 12 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.

Based on conversations with over 200 major organisations since the IMA's Insight Forum was launched in 2005, this set of Insight commerciality guides will take you through the foundations you will need in place, simple yet powerful valuation techniques and the means to ultimately calculate the return on investment.

These guides are recommended reading for anyone who works in a corporate Insight, Research or Analysis team and who wants to see Insight make a bigger difference in their organisation.

To explore the other 7 territories of the IMA's Insight roadmap, visit the Insight leader guide - main page.

Insight commerciality guides

IMA Red Apostrophe Icon
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.
IMA Red Apostrophe Icon
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.
IMA Red Apostrophe Icon
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.
IMA Red Apostrophe Icon
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.
IMA Red Apostrophe Icon
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.
IMA Red Apostrophe Icon
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.