Data at the Decision-Making Table: Craft Smarter Strategies with the Industry Wizard

Data often gets compared to oil—valuable, abundant, and powerful. But if you’ve ever tried to fuel a jet engine with crude oil straight from the ground, you know that raw potential doesn’t get you very far without the right refinement. As the CIO of IBISWorld, I’ve seen this metaphor play out countless times. Companies drowning in data, yet starved for actionable insights, spinning their wheels because they lack the tools to turn raw data into refined, strategic fuel. 

This is the exact problem we faced at IBISWorld, and it’s one that our clients were grappling with too. It wasn't enough to simply gather data; the critical task was distilling it into insights that could drive successful decisions. This need led us to develop the IBISWorld Industry Wizard. Since its launch in 2015, the Industry Wizard has evolved to do more than just provide data—it offers personalized, strategic answers essential for enterprise-level decision-making. Whether you're pinpointing the right industry to enter, benchmarking against competitors, or exploring new market opportunities, the Industry Wizard turns raw data into actionable insights that quantify potential, support strategic planning, and shape effective marketing strategies for sustained growth.

Breaking down data silos

So, what is it about the Wizard that is so magical? Well, what sets the Industry Wizard apart is the millions of connected, standardized data points across industries that lie beneath the interface, enabling true apples-to-apples comparisons that transform data into profitable decisions. At IBISWorld, we strive to turn our raw data – backed up over the years by one billion words of human analysis – into structured, actionable insights. The Industry Wizard plays a crucial role in this process by "unpacking" our reports and breaking down the information silos, offering valuable comparisons and context.

As we continue to enhance the Wizard, we focus on the tangible challenges both our clients and our own teams face, crafting features that address real-world strategic and growth obstacles. With that in mind, I’d like to share the top five use cases that emerged from this process. These use cases reflect how we’ve transformed our own pain points—and those of our clients—into powerful solutions that address some of the most pressing issues businesses face today.

1. Strategic industry screening: Identifying opportunities with precision

One of the most significant challenges that continually surfaced among our clients—and deeply resonated within IBISWorld—was the overwhelming inefficiency in filtering through vast amounts of data to identify industries that matched specific goals. Both our clients and our own teams felt the frustration of existing tools that were either too rigid or shallow to provide deep, actionable insights.

Take, for example, our clients in the legal and audit sectors who struggled to pinpoint industries where their services were most needed. Regulatory landscapes were constantly evolving, and the inability to swiftly identify sectors with changing regulatory demands turned potential opportunities into missed chances. Business development teams found themselves reacting instead of leading, ultimately losing their first-mover advantage in these shifting markets.

Similarly, financial institutions we partnered with often voiced frustrations about the time-consuming process of identifying investment opportunities that matched their specific criteria. Whether they were looking for high-growth sectors, mature industries poised for consolidation, or emerging markets, the lack of a robust screening tool meant that they were spending too much time at the top of the funnel, and too little at the deep-dive, decision making stage. This inefficiency was not only costing them time but also potentially lucrative investment opportunities.

I recall a particular instance early in the development of the Industry Wizard when a major financial client was struggling to adapt to the rapidly shifting landscape of renewable energy sectors. They needed to quickly reassess their investment strategies in light of new regulations and market entries but found themselves bogged down by the slow and cumbersome process of data analysis. It was a pivotal moment for us at IBISWorld, highlighting not only the critical need for speed and adaptability in data tools but also the direct impact of such tools on decision-making and competitive positioning.

This was a mirror to our own internal struggles as we aimed to align our growth strategies with evolving market demands. The need for a dynamic, personalized tool became clear—a solution that could adjust to the unique demands of various users while delivering in-depth, actionable intelligence insights.

Enter the Industry Wizard. Our vision was to engineer a system that could rapidly filter industries based on a range of detailed criteria—from regulatory landscapes to financial performance and structural changes like mergers and acquisitions. The result is a tool that does the heavy lifting of segmenting industries, allowing users to focus on strategy rather than sifting through data.

Now, our legal and audit clients leverage the Industry Wizard not just to identify industries undergoing significant regulatory changes across sectors, but to translate this knowledge into actionable strategies. Senior managers can refine sales priorities, which are then streamlined through sales and CS operations, shaping product scripts and playbooks that utilize IBISWorld report content. This approach ensures that teams are equipped to have meaningful conversations with clients about how they can navigate these changes, turning potential challenges into tangible opportunities for growth. Similarly, our finance clients utilize the tool to easily identify industries that align with their investment goals, ensuring no high-value opportunity is overlooked due to data overload.

The result has been transformative. The Industry Wizard has not only eliminated previous inefficiencies but has also provided customized insights that empower users to make quicker, more informed decisions. This tool has become a pivotal competitive edge, helping our clients and IBISWorld alike to stay a step ahead. It’s not just about finding industries—it’s about finding the right industries that offer the highest potential value.

2. Comparison and benchmarking: Strategic market positioning through contextualization

Another crucial area where the Industry Wizard has made a significant impact is in facilitating robust comparisons and benchmarking across industries. The need for this feature was highlighted by the frequent requests from our clients who wanted to understand not only individual industries, but also how these industries stacked up against each other.

Marketing firms often approached us with the challenge of assessing competitive landscapes across various sectors. One example involved a UK client who needed to focus on industries with high marketing spend to win their business. Traditional reports only offered static data, lacking the contextual depth necessary for crafting nuanced strategies. The client needed a way to compare industries, identify emerging trends, assess market saturation, and evaluate competitive threats. Without these insights, their recommendations risked relying on static data—potentially high in value but disconnected from trends—making it difficult to determine if the industry was actively worth pursuing, which could lead to misguided marketing initiatives and poor resource allocation.

Our internal needs mirrored these client demands as well. When exploring potential new markets or assessing the viability of new product lines, we found that our ability to make informed decisions was hindered by the lack of comparative insights. We needed a tool that not only provided data but also contextualized this data within the broader industry landscape.

This led to the Industry Wizard’s powerful comparison and benchmarking functionalities. We designed it to enable users to select specific industries and directly compare key metrics like growth rates, profitability, and market share. This capability allows for a more granular understanding of where an industry stands relative to others, which is crucial for strategic positioning.

For example, an audit team used the Wizard to benchmark their client against industry standards, focusing on key economic drivers (KEDs) to identify areas of concern. By downloading the cost structure matrix and comparing it with similar businesses, they assessed whether their client’s investments in new products, markets, or technology were sufficient to maintain or grow market share. When discrepancies were found—such as potential market shrinkage or shifts in local production—the auditors explored how the client was addressing these challenges. This allowed them to tailor the audit plan to focus on industry risks, cash flow management, and technological advancements, ensuring a thorough and relevant audit process.

The impact of this feature has been profound. By providing a way to make meaningful comparisons and conduct detailed benchmarking, the Industry Wizard has empowered our clients to develop more targeted, effective strategies.

3. Market sizing: Defining your TAM with accuracy

Navigating global markets without accurate maps can lead businesses astray—a reality we know all too well, both at IBISWorld and within our client base. Defining the Total Addressable Market (TAM) has often felt like trying to sketch the coastline of a newly discovered continent with only a rudimentary compass.

Although essential for strategic planning, precise and adaptable market sizing tools were conspicuously absent, leaving companies to make do with fragmented, often misleading data. This gap in our arsenal was not just a nuisance to us; it was also something our clients were bringing to our attention regularly.

This realization led us to enhance the Industry Wizard’s functionalities by expanding its regional coverage and state-level data to provide a more detailed and localized view. This empowers users to adopt a broader perspective—whether for seizing opportunities or mitigating risks within specific regions.

One illustration of this need came from our experience with a client in the consumer electronics sector, who was struggling to estimate market opportunities for smart home devices, not just nationally but across various states within the US. Typically, global market sizes are readily available, but these broad figures often obscure the nuanced variations and unique opportunities present in state-level markets. The Data Wizard's regional capabilities allowed them to drill down into specific states, providing a detailed comparison of market dynamics and potential across different regions. This enabled them to identify and strategically target areas with the most significant growth potential, tailoring their marketing and distribution efforts to maximize regional opportunities.

Similarly, our work with a multinational corporation in the construction materials sector further highlighted the issue. They were attempting to grasp the market potential for both plastic and concrete pipes—a task complicated by differing NAICS classifications and distinct geographic market dynamics. It was clear that what our clients needed was not just a tool, but a navigator—a sophisticated system capable of weaving together disparate data threads into a coherent, actionable tapestry.

Internally, one of our US Business Analysts leveraged the Industry Wizard to calculate TAM for some of our specific end markets. Using the tool, they determined the size of our TAM and estimated the number of ideal customer profiles (ICP) left in the pool. This approach was crucial in improving our strategic planning for markets where direct comparisons might be less obvious. By leveraging the Data Wizard's capabilities, the analyst was able to derive detailed estimates and insights from broad industry data.

Thus, the Industry Wizard not only aggregates industries across different regions but also segments TAM based on various factors like enterprise count, size, and growth potential. This functionality has been pivotal in supporting clients in the complex task of market sizing, turning it into a streamlined, data-driven process.

4. Company market share: A comprehensive view of major players

Developing a holistic understanding of companies that operate across multiple sectors had always been a significant challenge for our clients and something we had also grappled with at IBISWorld. Understanding the broad scope of a company's influence across diverse markets, as well as the market's impact on the company, is crucial for crafting effective strategies. However, many clients find themselves adrift in a sea of disjointed data, unable to connect the dots and fully grasp how industry tides can significantly affect corporate health and performance.

I remember a consultation with a client in the telecommunications industry who was trying to assess the impact of their ventures into streaming media. They struggled with understanding how their traditional telecom services intersected with this new digital realm, and they needed a way to view these overlapping segments holistically.

The Industry Wizard is equipped with a sophisticated feature that not only extracts and consolidates data from all relevant industries where a company operates, but also synthesizes this information. This provides a comprehensive perspective on a company's operations, highlighting the external factors impacting each sector.

A real breakthrough came when a client, well-versed in their industry, partnered with an IBISWorld consulting client to gain a broader perspective on the competitive landscape. This consulting engagement revealed threats not just from direct competitors but also from companies in adjacent industries and those vertically integrating within the supply chain. Using the Industry Wizard, they were able to analyze these emerging threats, particularly from a downstream company that was moving upstream to secure its own supply and become a new competitor. This insight allowed the client to anticipate and counteract potential disruptions, turning what could have been a threat into an opportunity to strengthen their market position.

This feature has also been instrumental for a financial services firm that was evaluating different markets for investment opportunities. By providing a panoramic view of a target company’s activities across financial products, consumer banking, and investment services, the Industry Wizard enabled them to spot underexploited niches and overlapping areas that could yield higher returns.

These experiences underscore how the Industry Wizard has not only addressed a critical need but also profoundly changed how we and our clients approach strategic planning. By transforming fragmented data into a cohesive narrative, the tool empowers us to craft strategies that are informed by a deep and comprehensive understanding of market dynamics. It’s about making smarter decisions that are based on a complete picture, not just isolated snapshots. Through this approach, we help our clients navigate complex market environments with confidence, ensuring they leverage every opportunity the data reveals.

5. Hidden dependencies and risk management: Uncovering the unseen

Risk management is a critical component of strategic planning, particularly in sectors like banking and finance where understanding interdependencies is key to maintaining a balanced and resilient portfolio. One of the recurring challenges our clients faced was the inability to recognize hidden dependencies between sectors that appeared independent, but were in fact deeply interlinked. This often led to a significant underestimation of risks, impacting financial stability and planning.

A striking example involved a regional bank who, when evaluating a loan to a firm in the craft beer industry, initially focused on the firm's financial health and industry context. However, a deeper analysis revealed significant risks tied to both its suppliers and large distributors—key components of its supply chain.

The firm’s reliance on a few major suppliers for natural ingredients and its dependence on large distributors with strong bargaining power increased its vulnerability. Through thorough industry mapping, which considered both vertical and horizontal linkages, the bank identified these interconnected risks. A downturn in the craft beer industry could lead to defaults not only by the firm but also by its suppliers and buyers, creating a ripple effect. This case underscores the importance of recognizing that industries do not operate in isolation.

To address these kinds of challenges, we enhanced the Industry Wizard with the capability to uncover hidden dependencies between industries. This feature allows users to analyze industry data in depth, revealing connections through supply chains, shared technologies, or geographic proximity. By understanding these links, banks can better assess the true risk exposure of their portfolios, accounting for how disruptions in one sector could impact others.

For instance, after implementing the Industry Wizard, another client, a larger national bank, was able to identify a significant risk in their portfolio related to their investments in the automotive and steel industries. Initially perceived as separate, the Industry Wizard revealed that a significant portion of the bank’s automotive loans were vulnerable to fluctuations in the steel industry, particularly because several major automotive manufacturers relied on steel suppliers facing volatile market conditions. This insight allowed the bank to adjust their risk management strategies, mitigating potential losses before they materialized.

This capability isn't just about managing risks; it also helps in identifying opportunities. A consulting firm used the tool to advise a client in the electronics sector, identifying potential benefits from regulatory changes in the environmental technology sector that would affect their supply chain. Armed with this information, the company was able to strategize investments in new technologies ahead of their competitors.

By using the Industry Wizard to analyze these dependencies, organizations can ensure that risk is managed effectively and that opportunities are identified and seized upon, even when they lie beneath the surface.