Forrester Consulting has carried out research into Incopro’s Talisman platform which aims to help companies respond to the threat of counterfeiters. Its study looks at a number of the service’s benefits, including increased revenues and legal compensation.

What is Incopro’s Talisman?

Incopro’s Talisman is a software platform which assists companies with the detection and elimination of counterfeits. Forrester Consulting has carried out a Total Economic Impact study to assess the return on investment (ROI) for businesses that use Incopro’s Talisman.

Forrester interviewed four customers with experience of Incopro’s Talisman platform in order to gain knowledge of the advantages of investing in the system. The consulting company used the data to create a composite organisation with a three-year financial model.

Companies cited the following key benefits:

• reduction in the number of counterfeit listings on big online marketplaces, bolstering brand equity and increasing revenue;
• increase in legal capabilities;
• increased legal compensation;
• enhanced business intelligence capabilities.

The composite organisation

The composite organisation is a consumer goods company with yearly sales of $2 billion. The financial effect on the composite organisation is based on the responses obtained from the four interviewed customers using Incopro’s Talisman.

According to the study, “the organization, like the customers interviewed, starts using Talisman for a limited number of brands – initially three – in the first year. In the second year, the composite adds three brands, and in the third year, it adds four more.”

Why did interviewees invest in Incopro’s Talisman?

The main reasons mentioned for investment in the platform were the
following:

• Legal departments and brand protection teams were under increasing pressure and, because they were seen as a cost centre, subject to financial limitations which meant they could not increase their resources.
• Counterfeit goods were proving to be a problem. It was difficult for companies to assess which were the most important counterfeit listings.
• Counterfeit goods and copyright infringement had a negative effect on brand equity. Consumers no longer knew which goods were authentic and which were not. Consumers were also enticed by alternative offers from counterfeiters. Furthermore, recipients of counterfeit goods issued complaints and sometimes initiated litigation.

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Revenue increase

Based on the feedback of customers, Forrester estimated that the “the different products and brands for which the composite organization uses the platform experience a 3% sales increase.” In the first year, three brands were covered and made up 20% of sales. Three percent of these sales occurred online. After Incopro’s platform was put into use, there was an increase of 3%, leading to revenue growth of $360,000. When further brands were added in the second and third year, the overall revenue uplift was $1,390,233.

Increased legal capabilities

The Incopro platform helped increasingly pressurised legal teams by gathering data from various locations and highlighting the main infringers, providing key details about infringers and garnering evidence to aid litigation. Forrester worked out that there would be a benefit of $246,469 for the composite organisation after three years.

Higher levels of legal compensation

Forrester’s study states that “not only does the platform free up time of the legal team but it can also increase the number of successful litigation cases and hence the amount of legal compensation.” Forrester estimated that for the composite organisation, the three-year risk-adjusted total would be $216,717.

Enhanced business intelligence

Customers using Incopro’s platform have been able to capitalise on other benefits including demand heat maps and the signalling of acquisition targets. Forrester avers that this brings a benefit of $78,137 to the composite organisation after three years. This takes into account the fact that in the second year of implementation, the platform provides “half of the equivalent value of a full-time business intelligence analyst” and in the third year, three-quarters of the value of a full-time analyst.

Costs of using the platform

Customers pay an annual subscription for use of the platform. Clients have the option of an Incopro analyst supplying support, reports and advice on how to maximise the benefits of the system. The costs increase as the service encompasses more brands. For the composite organisation, initial costs are $125,000. These increase to $175,000 in the third year. Companies also have to keep the implementation costs in mind. This includes sharing business information with Incopro, such as previous counterfeit problems. Forrester considered these costs to be approximately $48,779 after three years. Planning and upfront costs for the platform were set at a risk-adjusted total of $37,800. This figure encompasses costs for various forms of planning such as training users on how to use the platform. The cost for ongoing support was estimated to be $20,806 on a three-year basis. Ongoing costs cover issues such as IT support and meetings with Incopro.

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