Crayon

Crayon is an integrated market intelligence platform that's designed to help business managers track and analyze financial movements. It can simultaneously monitor data collected from customers, partners and competitors of any brand to provide additional information to managers who are trying to improve their decision-making processes. Advanced features that can help team members collaborate with one another are also bundled into the software.

The Crayon platform can automatically capture and then provide insights about whatever kind of competitive intelligence is relevant to your particular industry. To that end, it comes with tools that can help you negotiate with other members of your team who might know more about the right kind of moves to make after having taken a look at said data.

For instance, you're just a click away from external messaging tools as well as a database that gives you the freedom to make product and pricing changes. Best of all, it includes a positioning feature that's useful for those who manage online retail operations. Users can rely on this to change up the way that they stock goods or manage their shipments.

When a competitor makes a dramatic move, Crayon will let you know so that you can react in time. Fast-moving companies, like those that sell trendy fashion products online, will benefit the most from this feature. Each time a competitor starts to stock products or increases their sales of one good or another, Crayon will provide you with updates that you use to make adjustments. This may allow you to potentially attract customers you would have otherwise lost to another company.

When it comes time to improve your market performance, Crayon even gives you the freedom to put together custom plans that it calls battlecards. These virtual battlecards allow managers to spell out certain chores and pass them out to each member of your team. After someone gets assigned a card, they can act on the instructions that it contains or request a further revision if they personally feel that the rules don't match the current situation that your business is in.

In fact, one of the biggest advantages of Crayon is the ability of the software to allow multiple organizations within a business to communicate with one another and voice concerns. If a member of your team disagrees with what's on a battlecard or thinks that your policies should be put into play that much more quickly, then they'll be free to add a comment.

Those who are used to a rigid chain of command may find that this level of freedom is a bit obtuse, but it can be really liberating for business owners who are willing to give it a try. Crayon's customer service tools can revolutionize the marketing journey for those who put them into play.

Pros

• Processes market intelligence data
• Included integrated battlecards
• Comes with tools designed to drive revenue
• Features collaborative technology

Cons

• May not be best for smaller teams
• Requires a network connection