Important ingredients for choosing the right monitoring platform!

What a complex world of different intelligence platforms! We follow over a hundred of them at Phar, and they can all seem very similar and very different at the same time. How do you go about choosing the right one? Here are a few tips to help you find your way around.

Framing

At the outset, and even before giving in to the temptation to see the extent of the possibilities and limitations, it's important to set the stakes associated with the project. What exactly do you want to achieve? Business intelligence can play many roles: from managing internal knowledge to keeping a close watch on technological innovations, right through to facilitating strategic meetings.

Tools list

In order to identify the tools available on the market and related to business intelligence, some sites such as Capterra (Gartner), G2, GetApp (Gartner) or Tableau Public are worth considering. You can also use your favorite search engine under: "market intelligence platforms" or "business intelligence platforms".

Evaluation-of-tools

Here are three main areas of evaluation and a few points to consider when identifying the best monitoring tool for your organization.

1. Monitoring and broadcasting:

Sources:

• Is this a platform focused on social media listening, traditional media, weak signals?
• How many sources are listed?
• In how many languages does the platform monitor?

Monitoring:

• Is it easy to integrate and process the information gathered there?
• On what aspects is artificial intelligence dedicated?
• Does the platform allow for input from external collaborators?
• Does the platform enable a view based on monitoring axes?

Diffusion:

• What types of output are possible (newsletters, API to social networks, digital repositories)?
• Are the means of producing these outputs easy and flexible?
• Is it possible to export all information and source lists in the event of a migration to another solution?

Activation:

• Does the platform offer the means to produce visual summaries or dashboards?
• Is it more of a news reader or a platform for extracting and sharing specific knowledge for application purposes?

2. User experience

Integration:

• Is the platform user-friendly and allows intuitive navigation?
• Is the platform or certain aspects of the platform modifiable or adjustable?
• Is it easy to manage users and collaborators?
• What languages are in use?
• Is mobile support available?

3. Contractual

Costs:

• What are the costs of integrations, adaptations, additions, etc.

Training:

• Is onboarding including training planned?

Service:

• Is strategic and technical support offered or available?

Evolutions:

• Does the "roadmap" of product evolutions seem interesting and shared with users?
• Does the platform seem to be in a mature phase or rather in its early stages of development?

You're still not sure which platform would be best, or would like a second opinion? Write to me, I'll be happy to assist you! mathieu@phar.ca