In the mid-1990s, the Quality group at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) regularly surveyed its customers. These surveys focused on understanding customer needs across attributes such as product lifetime and on-time delivery. The group used phone and postal mail surveys, and sales people handed out surveys to customers. While the feedback was valuable, the group realized they were examining only a few elements of what influences a customer to buy from AMD. They also realized that their basic survey methods would not work for an in-depth survey of AMD's thousands of existing and potential customers.

CustomerSat Insight talked to CustomerSat's John Chisholm on the crucial role of intelligence in mergers and acquisitions.

CI: You say that M&A and market research need each other. Why?

JC: For two reasons. First, the right customer and market intelligence can make or break an M&A transaction. Second, M&A lets researchers apply their skills and expertise in new, strategically important ways to their organizations. M&A is an important internal client for customer and market research; research professionals deserve a prominent seat at the M&A table.