1. On the edge of tomorrow's markets

Markets constantly move on and leading companies must harness technology in order to anticipate how.

By focusing on the leading edge of customers' needs and wants, often from the edge of their own organisations, rather than at the centre, companies that use technology to identify market insights can steal a march on their competitors. This encompasses:

- Watching what customers do: tracking data on purchases and returns, analysing data such as satisfaction surveys, monitoring what customers do online, and observing customers in-store are all ways to identify hidden market opportunities.

- Listening to customers: smart marketers keep their antennas up on customers' conversations on social networks and online forums, and modify their products and services in response to what they hear.