Your Clients Expect Proprietary Intelligence. Most Consultancies Are Still Building It Manually.
CRED gives consulting firms the data foundation to deliver market analysis, competitive benchmarking, and client intelligence that competitors cannot replicate. And the signal engine to find the clients who need it before anyone else makes the call.
CONSULTING INTELLIGENCE PLATFORM
Client Account Intelligence
CLIENT ACCOUNTS — RANKED BY INTELLIGENCE SIGNAL
TerraVox
Energy
Health
87
Threat
Low
Opportunity
High
Fulcrum Partners
Financial Services
Health
61
Threat
Medium
Opportunity
Medium
Stratus Retail
Consumer
Health
44
Threat
High
Opportunity
Low
NovaBridge
Technology
Health
92
Threat
Low
Opportunity
High
ILLUSTRATIVE SCENARIO
PROSPECT INFLECTION SIGNALS
Meridian Capital
New CEO Hired
94
Vantage Group
Series C Announced
88
Apex Logistics
Transformation Initiative
82
Orion Retail
M&A Process Active
91
Cascade Health
Competitive Threat Detected
76
ILLUSTRATIVE SCENARIO
THE PROBLEM
Three Problems. One Platform.
01
The Intelligence Gap
Your clients pay for insight competitors cannot replicate. But the research behind it (market sizing, benchmarking, commercial intelligence) is still being assembled from public sources every other firm also subscribes to. McKinsey research found knowledge workers spend up to 20% of their working week searching for and gathering information. In consulting, that cost compounds directly into engagement quality and margin.
02
The Pipeline Problem
For the majority of consulting firms, more than 60% of new business comes from referrals, while fewer than one in ten treat referral network development as an active priority. The companies signalling an advisory need (a new CEO, a funding round, a competitive threat) are in the data before they call you. Most firms find out too late to shape the brief.
Source: Consulting Success, Marketing for Consultants Study
03
The Build vs Buy Gap
The consultancies building genuine data advantages are doing it by acquiring or building proprietary data assets. That takes years and significant investment. Most firms cannot afford the build. Most firms are competing on methodology while their best-funded competitors are competing on data.
FRAGMENTED
- Client intelligence assembled manually from public sources
- New business dependent on relationships and referrals
- Competitive benchmarks built from disclosed data only
- Market analysis takes weeks to produce
- Proprietary data advantage requires years to build
UNIFIED
- Client intelligence enriched with signals competitors cannot access
- New business pipeline fed by companies showing engagement signals
- Competitive benchmarks built from real operational performance data
- Market analysis produced in hours, not weeks
- Proprietary data advantage available from day one
CRED closes the intelligence gap across client delivery, business development, and proprietary benchmarking.
HOW IT WORKS
From signal to decision in one platform.
Every client signal, every market move, and every prospect inflection. All continuously updated from CRED's intelligence across 50M+ companies and 700M+ contacts. Your team spends less time gathering data and more time delivering insight.
Connect
Unify everything.
200+ data sources bring together your client universe and your target market in a single continuously updated intelligence layer. CRED matches your existing client data with external signals (funding activity, leadership changes, hiring velocity, competitive moves) so every client view and every prospect assessment reflects the complete market picture, not just what appears in a public database.
Score
Rank every opportunity.
Proprietary scoring models rank every client account, every prospect, and every market signal. Client health scores built on engagement depth, relationship breadth, and competitive threat indicators. Prospect inflection scores built on signals that predict an incoming advisory need. Market opportunity scores built on sector momentum and competitive gap data. Every engagement your team completes sharpens the next prediction, so the models get more accurate with every project cycle.
Surface
Deliver at the point of decision.
Client intelligence views give your engagement teams the market context they need before every client conversation. Prospect pipeline dashboards give your business development team a continuously updated list of companies approaching an inflection point. Proprietary benchmark outputs give your practice leaders the named intelligence asset that positions your firm as the definitive source for your sector. All of it built from the same scored, continuously updated data layer.
INDEPENDENT ADVISORS
Every client conversation is better when you already know what the market knows.
The independent consulting market is one of the fastest-growing segments of professional services. The practitioners commanding premium positioning and retainer relationships are not the ones with the widest networks. They are the ones who consistently arrive at client conversations knowing more than the client expects, backed by market data and competitive intelligence that demonstrates genuine expertise rather than pattern-matched advice.
Client Conversation Intelligence
Before every client conversation, pull the market intelligence, competitive signals, and commercial benchmarks relevant to that client's situation. Walk in knowing where they sit relative to their peer set, which competitive threats are building, and where the opportunity the client has not yet seen is already visible in the data.
Business Development Intelligence
CRED scores every company in your defined coverage universe continuously, flagging the ones approaching an inflection point that signals an advisory need before anyone else has made the first call. The systematic pipeline that replaces referral dependency without requiring a dedicated business development function.
See what CRED surfaces on your client base and target market.
STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCIES
The intelligence your clients expect. Built on data your competitors cannot access.
Whether you are running a global strategy practice, a specialist advisory team, or a sector-focused group, CRED gives your engagement teams the market intelligence to deliver recommendations that are genuinely harder to replicate, and your business development team the signals to find the right clients before competitors do.
FOR PRACTICE AREA LEADERS AND PARTNERS
Your practice's output is only as proprietary as the data behind it.
Competitive differentiation in consulting now hinges on proprietary tools, industry benchmarks, and demonstrable impact metrics. The firms winning the most important mandates are not the ones with the best frameworks. They are the ones whose intelligence is built on data their competitors cannot simply subscribe to.
Client Intelligence Enrichment
Every client engagement starts with intelligence your competitors cannot access. Market analyses built on live signal data, not static analyst reports six months out of date. Competitive assessments benchmarked against real peer performance, not management-reported figures. Commercial intelligence that reflects what the market actually knows about an asset, not what management chose to include in the brief.
What CRED enriches:
- Market sizing and sector analysis built on live signal data updated continuously
- Competitive benchmarking against real peer performance across 50M+ companies
- Commercial due diligence with independent audience intelligence and operational benchmarks
- Transformation opportunity sizing based on gap analysis vs comparable organizations
CLIENT ENGAGEMENT INTELLIGENCE
Pre-Engagement Briefing: Target Company
Market Position
72
Positioned below peer median on commercial performance vs sector benchmark
Competitive Threat Score
64
3 competitors gaining material share in core revenue segments
Commercial vs Peer Median
58
Revenue per customer 18% below sector median; addressable uplift identified
Audience Intelligence
81
Audience retention above benchmark; acquisition funnel underperforming
Operational Improvement
47
Comparable organizations achieved 22% efficiency gain post-transformation
ILLUSTRATIVE SCENARIO
FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIAL TEAMS
PROSPECT INFLECTION PIPELINE
Companies Approaching Advisory Inflection
AI Insight: 6 companies showing active advisory inflection signals this week
Meridian Capital
Financial Services
14d ago
94
Vantage Group
Consumer Goods
7d ago
88
Apex Logistics
Logistics
3d ago
82
Orion Retail
Retail
21d ago
91
ILLUSTRATIVE SCENARIO
The companies that need a consultancy right now are already signaling. CRED tells you which ones.
Most advisory opportunities are won or lost before the brief is written, by the firm that arrived first with the right intelligence. The firms that consistently win the best mandates are the ones that arrive at the right company at the right moment, before the brief is written and before competitors are invited to pitch.
Prospect Inflection Intelligence
CRED identifies the companies approaching an inflection point that signals an incoming advisory need. New CEO with a strategic mandate. Funding round requiring commercial due diligence. Competitive threat creating urgency. M&A process needing market intelligence. Every signal that tells your business development team which companies need a consultancy right now, scored, ranked, and surfaced before anyone else has made the first call.
Relationship and Engagement Intelligence
Which executives at target companies have engaged with your firm's published research, attended your events, or interacted with your thought leadership content. The warm pipeline that already exists inside your firm's digital footprint, made visible and ranked by seniority, company fit, and buying signal strength.
We will show you the companies in your target market approaching an advisory inflection point right now.
BOUTIQUE AND SPECIALIST CONSULTANCIES
The intelligence advantage that used to require a research team. Now available without one.
Boutique and specialist consultancies are winning market share from the largest firms by delivering faster, more specialized, and more cost-effective insight. The data foundation that makes that possible should not require a dedicated research function. CRED provides the intelligence layer so your practice competes on expertise without the overhead of building data capability internally.
Commercial Due Diligence Support
The independent market picture that complements a management team's narrative in any M&A or investment context. Audience intelligence sized and segmented independently. Commercial performance benchmarked against peer set. The intelligence that tells your client whether the acquisition narrative is supported by what the market actually knows about the asset.
Sector Intelligence for Retainer Clients
Continuously updated market signals, competitive moves, and commercial benchmarks delivered as a live dashboard for retainer clients who need to stay current on their competitive landscape without commissioning a new research project every quarter. The ongoing intelligence delivery that deepens client relationships and creates recurring revenue without recurring research overhead.
Market Entry Intelligence
Which markets, segments, and geographies represent the highest-fit opportunity for a client's expansion thesis, scored against the signals that predict successful entry. Category momentum, competitive concentration, addressable audience sizing, and commercial whitespace estimation. Produced on demand rather than assembled over weeks.
Your client deliverables built on the same depth of market signal, competitive benchmark, and commercial intelligence that your largest competitors access through dedicated research teams. Without the research team.
MARKET ENTRY INTELLIGENCE
Target Market Opportunity Scanner
Financial Services / UK
88
72
Healthcare Tech / Nordics
91
41
Logistics / DACH
64
68
Consumer / Southeast Asia
79
55
B2B SaaS / Benelux
83
38
AI Insight: 3 segments showing high opportunity and low competitive concentration. Healthcare Tech Nordics flagged as primary entry recommendation.
ILLUSTRATIVE SCENARIO
Submit any client or target market. We will return a full intelligence report within 48 hours.
HOW TEAMS USE IT
Three Moments Where CRED Changes the Outcome.
PRE-PITCH INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
Target: Vantage Group / Financial Services
Benchmark Position vs Peer Set
Below median / 3rd quartileActive Competitive Threats
2 competitors gaining share in core segmentCommercial Whitespace Estimate
$14M addressable uplift identifiedLeadership Signal Activity
CFO change 6 weeks ago / transformation signalEngagement History with Your Firm
MD attended sector event 3 months agoRECOMMENDED ACTIONS
- Open with peer benchmark gap. They do not know their commercial rank.
- Reference CFO transition as the strategic inflection point
- Frame whitespace estimate as the first conversation, not the deliverable
ILLUSTRATIVE SCENARIO
CRED DATA ADVANTAGE
Intelligence infrastructure built for consulting firms that compete on insight.
CONSULTING-SPECIFIC DATA MODELS
| DATA POINT | WHAT IT TELLS YOU |
|---|---|
| Client Benchmark Score | How a client benchmarks against their peer set across commercial, operational, and competitive dimensions |
| Prospect Inflection Signal | Companies approaching a leadership change, funding event, or strategic inflection that signals an advisory need |
| Market Opportunity Score | Which markets, segments, and geographies represent the highest-fit expansion opportunity for a client |
| Competitive Threat Score | Which competitors are gaining ground on a client and where the displacement risk is highest |
| Engagement Depth Score | How deeply embedded your firm is across a client organization by seniority, function, and relationship age |
| Commercial Whitespace Estimate | Unfilled revenue opportunity vs achievable benchmarks for any company in the covered universe |
| Practice Area Benchmark Index | Custom scoring model across a defined company universe for proprietary benchmark publishing |
| Executive Movement Signal | Leadership changes at target companies that create relationship opportunities or signal strategic inflection |
PLATFORM COVERAGE
50M+
Companies in the intelligence database
CRED Platform Data
700M+
Contacts tracked globally
CRED Platform Data
200+
Data connectors
CRED Platform Data
4.6B
Consumer profiles
CRED Platform Data
MARKET CONTEXT
$303B
Global management consulting market 2024
Source: Maximize Market Research, Global Management Consulting Market, 2024
$457B
Projected market size by 2032
Source: Maximize Market Research, Global Management Consulting Market, 2024
~20%
Knowledge workers searching for information weekly
The Social Economy - McKinsey Global Institute, July 2012
60%+
Consultants whose business is majority referral-driven
Consulting Success, Marketing for Consultants Study
"Knowledge workers spend up to 20% of their working week searching for and gathering information. In consulting, where data gathering precedes every analysis and every deliverable, that cost compounds directly into engagement quality."
The Social Economy - McKinsey Global Institute, July 2012
"Competitive differentiation in consulting hinges on proprietary platforms, data-driven methodologies, and demonstrable impact metrics that tie fees to measurable client outcomes."
Source: Mordor Intelligence, Management Consulting Services Market Report, 2026
"Clients are prioritizing targeted, specialist providers over one-stop shops. AI-driven boutiques are winning market share from McKinsey, BCG, and Deloitte by delivering faster, more specialized, and more cost-effective services."
Source: Source Global Research, The Future of Consulting, 2024
"95% of potential consulting projects never make it out the client's door."
The Visible Authority, 2024 Consulting Trends
Your Clients Expect Proprietary Intelligence. CRED Makes It Possible.
The market intelligence your clients expect is already in the data. The companies approaching an advisory inflection point are already signaling. The competitive benchmarks that position your practice as the definitive source for your sector are already buildable from the same data layer. CRED makes all of it available across client delivery, business development, and proprietary benchmarking.
EXECUTIVE BRIEFING
What you'll walk away with:
A live intelligence assessment using your client base, your target market, and your practice area. We will show you what CRED surfaces on any client or prospect, how your practice benchmarks against comparable firms, and where the new business signals are active in your sector right now. Before you commit to anything.
SAMPLE REPORT
What you'll receive:
Submit any client or target company. Within 48 hours CRED returns a full intelligence report covering commercial benchmarks, competitive position, market signals, and leadership movement. No cost. No obligation.