Business intelligence means many different ways of gathering data about a corporation’s internal processes and the effect of those processes’ outcome on the enterprise and its customers. Accurate information concerning market trends can help companies determine which paths of research for products are good investments and which are dead ends. There are several ways to accomplish this:

1) Is this product related to my company’s primary purpose?

A company’s scope of service is usually centered on a single purpose, whether it is selling computers or managing investment portfolios. A successful brand name associates your company with that service in people’s minds, so when they hear your company’s name they think of that service. If you break this pattern by advertising a new product or service that is not closely connected to your previous service, then you have disrupted this pattern. Business intelligence can help you determine what your customer’s mindset is, then help you remain on track in advancing your product along that line.

2) Is the market right for this product? Do people want this?

Some prospective research lines are a solution in search of a problem. Knowing what your customers want is the first and most important step towards satisfying them. Some products just don’t have a large enough demand to merit research, while others may be needed, but the demand is dropping too fast for you company to buy into that particular market. The best way to determine if a research line is a worthy investment is to ascertain the projected profit based on business intelligence, and compare that to the cost of research. If cost is too high or the projection relies on too much guesswork, then the product in question may not be a smart path to follow.

3: Is this similar to an existing company product? If so, how is that product doing?

One of the things business intelligence tells us is where a company’s strong points are, and conversely, where it is weak. If the project proposed is directly related to a product or service in your company that is currently failing, then further research into that area may be already doomed. The only place where this might not apply is if the research proposed could rectify one or more of the problems with the failing product line. In such cases, business intelligence will point to the problematic areas and help match proposed solutions with the project in question.

4: Is this project feasible? Will this be successful?

This is one of the questions that often have no definite answer. Projects can look promising and profitable until an irresolvable problem arises, or a technical barrier becomes obvious. The only answer available is that every company must take some gambles if it is to advance in the real world. Risk in these cases can be minimized through careful research beforehand, and this is where business intelligence can help by showing where other companies have failed in the past.

Canadians are flocking online, and they have different search behaviours than their American counterparts.  

Perhaps we ought not be so quick to lump Canada into the all-encompassing “America” category. New research from eMarketer shows that Canada is deserving of some individual attention.  

Canada has not borne the brunt of the financial crisis, and thus may come out with far fewer scrapes than other industrialised countries. The third quarter of 2008 saw Canada’s economy expand (albeit at a low, 1.8 percent rate), where most economies contracted. 

Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales are predicted to hit £12.9 billion in 2012. Not bad for a country with only a tenth the population of its southern neighbour.  

The key for online retailers is learning how these Canadians are searching when they open up their favourite .ca search engine. 

The Maple Leaf Brand 

Ever patriotic, Canadians prefer to shop with native online retailers. As Canadian stores fall like dominoes into the hands of American conglomerates, many, if not most, Canadians are determined to support “Brand Canada”.  

Sites that keep this nationalistic sentiment in mind, treating Canadians as a unique populous with different needs than their American counterparts, are likely to fare better than those who categorise them as “American” (ie. from the massive continent of North America).  

This doesn’t mean lavishing your site with maple leaves and Mounties. It means catering to Canadians’ unique search habits. 

Canadian online consumers are a different breed than their American counterparts. They like to research. They really like to research. And, frustratingly for online stores, they are currently more likely to buy the product in-store after all that online research. 

However, this is changing slowly; as Canada’s internet infrastructure develops, e-commerce is becoming increasingly popular.  

Canadians also tend to be weary of online shopping due to security concerns surrounding credit card payments. They were found to be among the most concerned about this in a 2007 survey of select countries including Sweden, Singapore, Australia, US and China. Providing extra security in these transactions, therefore, would be a good move to set their worrying minds at ease.

For those Canadians who do make online purchases outside their own country, price plays a big factor. It was the main reason Canadians stated for them to buy, for example, from an American site. The second-most important reason was a wider selection of goods or services. 

Canada’s biggest online shopping age group is the 25-34 year-olds. Over half of them were found to have bought products and services over the internet. 

Travel a Winner 

Travel wins out as Canada’s largest online sales category, accounting for well over half of the country’s total B2C sales in 2008. In fact, Sean Shannon of Expedia Canada recently said that Canada is likely ranked second or third in the world in terms of online travel behaviour, and movement to online travel purchasing. 

Canada’s online travel sales, which were £4.4 in 2007, are predicted to reach £6.3 billion in 2012.  

According to the eMarketer report, it’s likely that Canada’s leisure travellers will make outbound, rather than domestic, trips. Therefore, they are more likely to spend more money and stay longer; indeed, all-inclusive “vacations” (Canadians tend to use this term/keyword in lieu of “holiday”) are very popular among Canadians. 

Other popular online services in Canada include books, magazines, music downloads, and event tickets. These categories are ever-expanding, due to and/or complimented by Canada’s annual growth rate, which is slightly over 10 percent. 
 

Canada’s E-Commerce Future 

Canada’s B2C e-commerce sales growth is expected to reach 17 percent by 2012. This may have to do with Canada’s growing online shopping population, which currently represent three-quarters of Canada’s netizens. By 2012, that percentage is set to be above 80.  

Web retailers in Canada sold, on average, £928 worth of retail products and travel reservations per online buyer last year, which represents a rise of 2.7 percent since 2007.  By 2012, this number is expected to rise to hit £988.  

So the next time you see a maple leaf sewn to the backpack of a lost traveller, keep in mind that they are part of this massive (and growing) online demographic, and your potential customer.  

Your business may be coasting along, turning a profit, and be quite successful. You may realize there are inefficiencies here or there, but since the company is doing well, you decide it’s more important to focus on other priorities for the time being. But in today’s economy, can you really afford to overlook those inefficiencies? Today’s small inefficiencies can turn into tomorrow’s big problems. Business intelligence can help you catch those inefficiencies before they turn into larger problems and make your company perform even better.  

The Benefits of Business Intelligence

While business intelligence often revolves around a lot of data, the benefits of BI are not usually measured that way. The benefits include better decision making on the part of business executives, improved overall strategies for the company, and improved performance of every department of the company. While these benefits may not always be measurable with specific data, using BI tools to take advantage of these benefits will show up in your bottom line.  

Business Intelligence Tools to Use

There are plenty of business intelligence tools that can help your company and getting into all of them here could get overwhelming, so if you’re just learning about the tools that might work for your company, here are a few to keep in mind.  

• Rich Internet Applications – If you’re about to purchase new business intelligence software for the first time, consider one with Rich Internet Applications. These provide a web-based, user-friendly interface that you and your employees can use and understand. They also generate web reports, spreadsheets, and more.
• Performance Management – Performance Management software helps you analyze and manage performance at every level of the company. This can increase accountability and keep every employee’s day-to-day activities on track with the overall company strategy.
• Operational BI and Real-Time Data – When remaining efficient on an operational level is important to your company’s bottom line, then take a look at operational business intelligence. This employs real-time data to improve your company’s intraday decision making process, meaning your business can improve right now, instead of in a few months.

 
There are many ways that business intelligence can become an integral part of your company’s success. Even if you are already experiencing a level of success, BI will keep you on that path and make your company even stronger.

Overall not a bad show.  We’ll be posting more on the show over the next week.

Really that is the only major search engine conference to take place in Canada.  Yahoo Canada feature a couple of events in Canada throughout the year, and MSN does the same.  However the lack of search related conferences in Canada is a bit of a concern.  What are the reasons for this?  Here are a few of our theories.

1. Canadians Are Not Interested in Search - well  at least not compared to our friends to the south of us.
2. Canadians Simply “Fly South” for the Conferences - with a number of conferences taking place on the sunny west coast of the US in places such as San Jose, Santa Clara and Las Vegas, many Canadians simply attend these shows as opposed to SES Toronto and the like.
3. There Are Simply Not Enough Search Engine Related Conferences in Canada - this is very true.  I would like to see more search conferences in Canada.  In fact cities such as Kelowna, BC, Calgary Alberta, Halifax, NS, Vancouver, BC, and Montreal, Quebec would be great cities to host such an event.

For now, we’ll have to attend the US shows and events such as SES Toronto.

Search Engine Strategies Toronto takes place from Jun 16-18th this year.

• Organized by two of the world’s leading search authorities, SES Toronto Conference Chairman, Andrew Goodman and SES Global Content Director, Kevin Ryan.
• Delivers real-time actionable information you need to grow your business through search engine marketing;
• Teaches the ins-and-outs of search engine marketing from top search experts and the search engines themselves;
• Provides a unique setting to network with fellow marketers and search engine industry professionals and discuss the trends in search engine marketing;
• Grants access to the world’s most comprehensive gathering of search engine marketing & optimization-related solutions providers and potential partners & affiliates;
• Get the latest event information at the SES Blog.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo Toronto 2008 features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion.

All aspects of doing business online will be covered: web analytics, strategy, content, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, social media, on-site behavioral targeting, multivariate testing, and much more.

The target audience for the conference includes marketing executives, sales executives, web analysts, Internet marketers, and all other occupations that see Internet as key to business success. The motto of the conference is that it’s by experts, for experts, and for those who’d like to become experts.

Speakers and panelists include Eric T. Peterson (Web Analytics Demystified), Jeremiah Owyang (Forrester), Tom Leung (Google), Bob Page (Yahoo!), Jason Burby (ZAAZ), Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo (Capulet Communications), Robbin Steif (Lunametrics), Xavier Casanova (Liveclicker), and Jonghee Jo (Victoria’s Secret). More speakers will be announced soon.

IMC has had a total of more than 2,000 participants since it started. It is the longest-running conference produced by Europeans about Internet marketing and has been held in such cities as New York City, Las Vegas, Vancouver, Montreal, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Stockholm.

The conference is being brought to Vancouver in cooperation with IIMA (The International Internet Marketing Association), an organization that helps marketers understand the value and potential of marketing on the web.

Twingly, Earthbound Media Group, and Web Analytics Demystified are some of the sponsors you will meet at the event.

For more information, visit www.internetmarketingconference.com or contact Lennart Svanberg at +46 708 54 15 06 or info@internetmarketingconference.com.

Rankings for Canada (March, 2008) are from TopSEOS.com

Organic Optimization

1. Acroterion Inc.

2. Enquiro Search Solutions

3. Hot Banana Software Inc.

4. 6S Marketing Inc.

5. Beanstalk

6. First Page SEO

7. 9th sphere

8. SitePosition

9. Epiar Inc.

10. The SEO Network

SEMPO Canada is Canadian Non-Profit Professional Search Marketing Association working to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing in Canada. This Working Group was founded in November 2006 by Ken Jurina & Alexandre Brabant and focuses on improving the growth, awareness and understanding Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in Canada including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Link Building, Pay Per Click Management best practices in this new field of marketing and how it uniquely pertains and is of relevance to Canadians worldwide across any sector, vertical or industry.

Since November 2006, SEMPO Canada members have made three educational presentations at the University of Alberta, represented SEMPO Canada at the Canadian Information Processing Society annual conference as well as Bar Camp in Vancouver, been interviewed on CBC Radio, and presented at the Government of Canada Business Link Centre to multiple Canadian cities via video conference. By Feb 01/07, SEMPO Canada intends on having a modest website, Sempo.ca complete with blog (consistent with the brand of Sempo.org), grow membership to 12 members, and present at additional educational institutions and seminars.

1. Fill out the form “Add your url” to submit your Canadian website. If it meets the requirements (read the Submission Guideline), your site will be added and shown in this format : title, description, url, city. This is your “title”, which is going to be clickable (as a hard link).
2. If you give a link back to TryCanada somewhere on your website, you earn the right to get 1 anchored keyword in your description. You aren’t dreaming : this means an extra “contextual text link” pointing toward your homepage (or a different page of your choice). So there is no need to have this page linked directly from your homepage, as other directories demand. And that’s not all. If your backlink is placed on a page having a Google Pagerank of 3 or more, you get a printscreen of your website (a thumbnail image of 65×50 pixels) with an “Alt” repeating your anchored keyword. This could be the deal of a lifetime; click here to see an example. Remember, 1 quality link to Try Canada = 1 Screenshot + 1 Extra Contextual text link.

TryCanada.com and add your site today.

Canada is one of the world’s most advanced online cultures. Broadband penetration is over 60%, and more than 63% of the population uses the Internet. But online advertising has been slow to take off—until now.

Get the eMarketer report here.