A marketing information system can be defined as a computer based system that works in conjunction with other functional information systems to support the organization’s management in solving problems that related to marketing the firm’s products.
The system should be design to collect and analyze different types of information at all stages of the marketing cycle.
The system includes three subsystems – the accounting information system, marketing research and marketing intelligence.
The marketing people must manage the information flows to aid the decision process.
Companies are studying their manager’s information needs and designing marketing information systems (MIS) to meet these needs.
A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate and distribute needed, timely and accurate information to marketing decision makers.
To carry out their analysis, planning, implementations and control responsibilities marketing managers need information about development in the marketing environment.
Marketing information has to be produced, stored and distributed, but it has a limited life – it is perishable.
Like other resources, information has a value in use; the less the manager knows about a marketing problem and the greater the risk attached to a wrong decision, the more valuable the information becomes.
The role of the MIS is to assess the manager’s information needs, develop the needed information, and distribute the information in a timely fashion to the marketing managers.
The needed information is developed through internal company records, marketing intelligence activities, marketing research and marketing decision support analysis.
The information used for marketing, decisions arrived at from different sources include:
*External environment data
*Marketing research data
*Marketing intelligence data
*Strategic plan
*Transaction processing data
How does Marketing Information System works?
