IT boom and globalization have been two of the biggest transformative forces that have changed the way companies operate. The relevance of pertinent data has grown manifold and we are seeing Artificial Intelligence (AI) creeping into nearly all business operations. In this scenario, web research services are deemed essential for the growth of businesses by many CEOs and CTOs. The decision makers acknowledge the fact that if they are not proactive and use the data for business purposes, their competitors will outpace them with their growth. While running an in-house operation for such a side task does not seem like a lucrative proposition, many are looking to outsource web research services.
Web Research for Business: Not as Easy as it Seems
‘Web research’ on the face of it looks like a menial task, which anyone with basic knowledge of a web browser would like to claim that he/she can perform. However, taking this task lightly, especially for business purposes can be a huge mistake that you should never make. If you still think it is simple, have a look at some of the major functions that you need to perform as part of web research:
- Finding and analyzing keywords that are relevant to your business. Searching for them on primary search engines like Bing, Yahoo and Google to extract the most pertinent information for your company.
- Scrupulously extracting relevant contact information like email address, house address, landline or mobile number, web address and sometimes even legacy fax numbers.
- Accessing social media websites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for both B2B and B2C contacts.
- Inputting information found in different file formats as per the requirements. The workforce tasked with web research tasks should have expertise on MS Word, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML etc.
These tasks are quite vast in nature and should be assigned to the specialists for their effective and timely completion. In case, you do not have in-house specialists to undertake a task as vast as web research, it is best to outsource web research services to a competent vendor. If you really want to make the most of web research services, never skimp on cost when it comes to quality. Only employ accomplished vendors who have delivered successful projects in the past.
Key Application Areas of Web Research
By partnering with a competent vendor, you will be able to discover most relevant data from different sources. Below are some key application areas for web research:
- Competitor information like name of top competitors, their strategies, turnover, markets etc.
- Product/service information in the form of catalogues, product features, pricing etc.
- Market-related data like market size, dealers, distributors etc.
- Official documents like magazines, whitepapers, journals etc.
- Trade events, exhibitions and web seminars
Only when these key application areas are searched thoroughly, you can expect to gain data that has real value for your business. Employing just about any vendor for web research will create a great void in your expectations and the actual results. Partner with a reputed company like Vcare, which has long-term experience of performing web research services for many past clients. It employs only cutting-edge software solutions for this purpose and brings new efficiency and accuracy in the web research process.