Key Note Reinvents Itself as a Business Intelligence Tool
Jinfo Blog

By Andrew Grave

Abstract

Market report publisher Key Note was acquired by Alistair Pauline in 2009. Its strategy subsequently has been to broaden its content and functionality, positioning it firmly in the business intelligence tools area. Andrew Grave investigates how successful Key Note has been in achieving this goal.

Item

Since its acquisition by Alistair Pauline in 2009, Key Note has further broadened its content and functionality every year, moving it away from being solely a producer of market reports and firmly into the business intelligence tools area.  

The last few years have seen the addition of company information including all-you-can-eat UK Companies House images (documents), a list generation tool and, most recently, a bespoke benchmarking tool.

In my review, I learnt that it now has full UK and Northern Ireland Companies House documents going back to 1996 together with original incorporation documents. I am used to business intelligence databases having just the last three years’ accounts and annual return, so this level of content came as a welcome surprise. Key Note also has credit reports and credit scores on these companies. These too are on an all-you-can-eat basis.

I also explored Key Note’s new benchmarking tool which went live in January 2013. It enables a list of companies to be extracted from a Key Note market research report; compiled using the List Builder module; or sourced from elsewhere then analysed within the module.

I found this new addition very easy to use. I can see it being a very popular tool for many uses and my review has a few suggestions. What I particularly liked was the ability for a researcher to take the company list in a report provided by Key Note and then to further refine it by the addition or subtraction of companies. In this way, a researcher can quickly add value to an enquiry by using their knowledge. They can also provide fresh data very quickly using the building blocks of Key Note’s suggested companies. 

In my review, I highlighted how some of the product’s new content provides the opportunity for savings to be made on other resources. I also looked at the usability of the new functionality and suggest a few areas where this could be improved. I also stepped back and asked the question: if Key Note is now to be viewed as a business intelligence tool, does it have any content gaps?

Key Note has undoubtedly been successful at reinventing itself as a business intelligence tool. Viewed through critical eyes, there is still at least one content gap and some of the usability could be enhanced. Key Note told me that its focus will now be on user experience across a range of devices together with further content. The company has moved at a fast pace over the last three years. I look forward to seeing how the product will look a year from now.

FreePint Subscribers can log in to view the FreePint Report: Product Review of Key Note now.

« Blog