Ans. DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE MA TING INFO ION SYSTEM
To be useful to the marketing managers, it is imperative that the marketing information system be carefully designed and set up in the organization. A system developed haphazardly 01. copied blindly form other organizations might prove to be a drag on the company resources. The following steps can be helpful in developing an effective marketing information system :
1) Determining Decision Makers' Information Requirements : The first and foremost step in designing an efficient and effective marketing information system is to ascertain information needs of the decision makers. The system should be so designed that it is able to timely and efficiently supply the information required by the managers in decision making. A marketing information system should be able to supply the information for making both the strategic and tactical decisions. Strategic decisions are the decisions which have long term implications and entail major investments. Whether to enter into a given market or not, which market segments in the given market to be targeted and what positioning strategy should be used are examples of strategic decisions. The tactical marketing decisions, on the other hand, are the decisions having short term implications and are made at the lower levels of management. Should a company react to changes in price by the competitors, and, if yes, by what amount; what distribution mode to adopt to deliver the goods to a particular customer by a stipulated date, etc. are the decisions which come under the category of tactical decisions.
The determination of information needs of the managers is a delicate task and should be handled with utmost care. Supply of more information is as dysfunctional as is the provision of less than sufficient information for effective decision making.
2) Establishing Data Collection and Storing Procedures : Elaborate procedures should be laid down to ensure timely and efficient collection, processing and storage of information in the organization. In the absence of such procedures and guidelines, either right type of data might not be gathered or else these might not be properly processed and stored to be of any use to the decision makers. There should also be a clearly laid down provision for periodically updating the data so as to keep the management abreast of latest developments in the market.
3) Determining Procedures for Information Utilization : Procedures are also required in respect of the analysis and usage of the collected marketing information in the organization. Marketing managers should be well aware of what information is available in the organization and how they can use the same in decision making. Steps must be taken to ensure that the information is timely supplied to the managers as and when the require it. The decision makers should be made familiar with the procedure used in data collection and processing stages so that they can assess the extent to which they can rely upon the information. The system should be so designed that it is user friendly and, if required, managers on their own should be able to retrieve and make use of the stored information.
4) Proper Linkages among Components of Marketing Information System : Each of the four components or sub-systems of the marketing information system, viz., internal reporting system, marketing intelligence system, marketing research system and analytical marketing system, should be properly linked with each other and their should be utmost coordination among them to ensure attainment of the common end, i.e., provision of timely and reliable information to the marketing decision makers. In a nutshell, what the company should strive for is an integrated marketing information system.
5) Efficient, Reliable and Flexible System : A good marketing system is one that is able to provide quickly and reliable information to the decision makers at the minimum possible costs to the company. Furthermore, the marketing information should be so designed that it is capable of coping with the changing marketing environment and informational requirements of the decision makers in the organization.
In brief, a good marketing information system is one that is user oriented. It should be able to meet the managers' current as well as future information needs. Both the operating and supporting systems should be installed as capable of supplying information required for day to day decision making as well as for strategic marketing analysis and planning.
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