Why is it so rare for customer insight (CI) functions to have a seat at the table when key decisions are being made? Executives in consumer-facing companies know that understanding customers’ motivations and anticipating their behavior can accelerate and amplify growth. Yet most organizations struggle to integrate CI into their strategic decision making and core processes.

CEOs and CI practitioners we’ve surveyed point to various factors that they believe inhibit the elevation of CI within an organization. One of the biggest is tight budgets and a culture of cost containment. In the low-growth environment that has prevailed in consumer industries since the global recession of 2008 and 2009, many senior executives are unwilling to continue investing in a function whose return on investment is not measured.

But in our examination of companies that have managed to turn their CI functions into a source of strategic insight and competitive advantage, we’ve found that budgets aren’t necessarily a determining factor. Elevating CI to a strategic position is not necessarily about spending more; it’s about spending smarter. That involves giving CI control over existing spending and letting CI professionals set priorities. It also involves getting the right profile to lead the function and, just as important, staffing CI teams with the right kind of new talent.