Perhaps they are leveraging a new piece ofproject management softwarethat is supercharging theirproductivity.

Youll notice that these tools all have slightly differing focuses.

Some areCRM platforms, some areSEO tools, and others arebusiness intelligence tools.

With an AI android by her side, a young woman studies on a couch in her modern home, highlighting the benefits of artificial intelligence.

Below, weve highlighted five of the most important features for you to assess when comparing solutions.

Data visualization

Data is fundamental to the efficacy of any competitive intelligence tool.

Its only then that businesses can be confident in the insights and assumptions generated from the data.

Beat the competition to every change with Visualping

Often, the automation features included within a competitive intelligence solution leverage AI tools in some way.

In short, opportunities could pass them by.

Thats why real-term alerts are found within the best competitive intelligence tools.

A pie chart showing how TV breaks down by platform and service

Real-term alert notifications will ensure that businesses never miss insights that could have a transformative effect on their operations.

They can get on with adding value and the alert will inform them as they go about their business.

Targeted searches

Who represents your audience?

People studying a report.

What would you consider to be your target market?

In todays data-fuelled world, there is a danger of businesses having access to too much information.

To avoid that, verify your competitive intelligence tool allows you to target your energies appropriately.

Customizable reports

A competitive intelligence tool that spits out a string of numbers isnt much use.

Of course, whats relevant differs from company to company.

Which metrics do you want the report to display?

What about the demographics of those sales?

You should be able to choose exactly what your competitive intelligence tool displays and how it is displayed.

However, in our view, there are certain features that you should always be on the lookout for.

TechRadar Pro created this content as part of a paid partnership with Visualping.

The content of this article is entirely independent and solely reflects the editorial opinion of TechRadar Pro.