Archives for March 2015

Our Competitive Intelligence definition is “an ethical, systematic and collaborative process, supported by specific tools for obtaining, analysing distributing and interpreting relevant information about a competitive environment that is transmitted to the executive of an organisation in order to generate an ideal context for taking decisions.” And a CI Analyst is a professional responsible of “Search, Analysis and Diffusion of INFORMATION, aimed at facilitating the TAKING OF DECISIONS”.

Among his tasks will be the following:

1. Define information monitoring strategies.
2. Regular monitoring of the received information.
3. Provide his “know-how” in the relevant information and turn it into intelligence.
4. Transfer the intelligence to people who make decisions

In our case, this whole routine is supported in a significant part by the INNGUMA software in its different versions and makes work easier as the number of available sources grows.

And what features should a CI Analyst have?

An analyst must be methodical in his work, with a desire for continuous improvement and technical knowledge of the specific topics that will pursue. In addition, he must have analytical skills and ability to put all the received information into context.

Finally, he must be able to adapt to changes. The growth of the web, that every day provides more and more information, both in number and importance, and the emergence of new ways of interacting with the environment forces to be constantly alert and updated regarding new technologies.

If you want to train as a CI Analyst, or have doubts about how to launch a CI unit, you can contact us for help. Also, you can try a free professional software like INNGUMA requesting a demo.

When it comes to define a Technological Roadmap, the workshops for the correct definition of the Roadmap are distributed according to the layers the future Roadmap will have, usually referred to the Market, Product and Technology layers. With these inputs, the Technology Roadmap is built, by which the future developments of the company will be oriented.

It is in the preparation of these workshops where the use of the Competitive Intelligence becomes relevant to count on with quality inputs. For example, in the case of the Market layer, we must identify market and business drivers, i.e., those factors that are valued by the market, or, on the contrary, limit and restrict it. Examples of these drivers can be client motivation, the price or more technological aspects, such as the cutting speed of a machine. Identifying the objectives to be achieved in this layer requires knowledge of the market and competitors’ product, for which is essential to have a professional Competitive Intelligence System that had captured this information to meet both current values and the evolution of these attributes over time.

In the Product layer the specifications one is able to develop and the market needs are aligned; in Technology layer, the technical aspects to consider to achieve these specifications are developed and in the Project layer, specific projects that will lead to reaching the technical needs.

In summary, for the development of a Technology Roadmap, it is essential the prior knowledge of the requirements and the evolution of the market, of the requested Products and of past and future Technologies that affect your business. And to have this updated information is completely necessary to have an active and efficient Competitive Intelligence System.

If you want to see the benefits CI can bring to your Roadmapping process, or are thinking of starting a CI Unit within your organization, you can contact us for assistance. Also, you can try a professional tool like INNGUMA requesting a free demo.

Intangible benefits:

• Better decision making.
• Anticipating the environment.
• More distributed knowledge.
• Cooperation between people.
• Improved capacity for innovation.
• Better targeting of projects.
• More and better availability of information.
• Improving knowledge.

Tangible benefits:

• Less dedication time.
• Less information received.
• Removing duplication.
• Detection of direct business opportunities.
• Increased efficiency in information management.

Costs:

• Hours of dedication of the staff.
• Costs of the CI tools (if any).
• IT equipment.
• Consultancy costs (if any).

Tangible benefits can be quantified (measured in monetary terms) so they can be compared with the generated costs by the CI activity, to obtain a numerical ROI.

If you have doubts about the benefits and costs that can be generated in your company by Competitive Intelligence, you can contact us for assistance. Also, you can try free professional software like INNGUMA requesting a demo.

1. A foreign agent will NEVER have the knowledge that you have about your business. As any efforts and professionalism demonstrated, an external entity will never know your business as you know it, so neither will be able to meet your information needs at 100%.

2. Outsourcing CI activity may be more expensive. This may seem like a contradiction to what we said last week (higher efficiency, reduced fixed costs …) but it is not; the hourly rate that will apply outsourced entity will always be greater than your own employees´.

3. You generate a dependency. If you subcontract the CI activity, you can end up becoming a captive customer. If the “know-how” and the improvement process occur in the provider, the day you desist the collaboration can mean losing everything achieved so far.

4. A foreign agent will not be part of the internal processes of your company, so it cannot provide the gained knowledge. One of the most interesting aspects of Competitive Intelligence is recovery which is made of acquired knowledge in the various committees, meetings, workshops, etc. of the organization. If the CI activity is carried out by an external agent biased knowledge will reach such situations.

5. To disseminate sensitive information about your company. If a suitable supplier is selected there should not be problems, but many organizations are reluctant to leave sensitive information on their activities to third parties.

6. It is difficult to generate direct business opportunities. The generation of business opportunities is one of the great benefits of CI; if the activity is outsourced, it is much more difficult such opportunities to be identified as the person who should do so does not have sufficient knowledge of the company´s business.

7. Difficulties in maintaining the system alive. When the CI is outsourced, there is a gap between the organization and the supplier that makes difficult for the system to evolve, as this evolution occurs in a timelier manner (when reviewing the Critical Surveillance Factors, in follow-up meetings, etc.).

If you are thinking of launching Competitive Intelligence in your organization and do not have clear the steps you need to take, you can contact us for assistance. Also, you can try free professional software like INNGUMA requesting a demo.