Archives for March 2016

COMPETE Competitive Intelligence Methodology: What it is and what levels compose it

March 17, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

Once this methodology (called COMPETE) was defined and registered, IK4-IDEKO has relied on it to deploy multiple Competitive Intelligence systems in multiple companies.

For all industrial contexts in which has been implemented so far, a model of Competitive Intelligence that proposes three levels of action has been used: the strategic level, which states the purpose of the model, the tactical level, which defines the organizational structure, process steps, methods and techniques and finally the operational level, which provides tools and information sources necessary to carry out the Competitive Intelligence systematic.

Two questions have to be answered at each of these three levels. At the strategic level what for the system is implemented and for whom is oriented must be defined. That is, you must define the ultimate goal of the system and its internal customers. At the tactical-organizational level who will participate in the system and how they will do it have to be defined. That is, define the role each person will play in the system so that it works correctly. Finally, the operating-technological level will answer questions such as where and how information will be sought and collected by the analyst and where and how the information will be checked by the reader.

If you are planning to launch Competitive Intelligenge activity in your company, please contact us and we will help you. Also, you can try a professional software like INNGUMA for free requesting a demo.

6 tips to keep your Competitive Intelligence system healthy

March 10, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

The 6 tasks to be performed are:

Review your KITs: It is an issue that we keep insisting, but a correct definition of Key Intelligence Topics is essential for the system to succeed. KITs should reflect the areas where the captured information can provide most benefits and should be aligned with the company strategy. Sometimes we find situations where, wanting to overreach too many aspects, the most critical are obviated.
Listen to the “recipients” of information: Sometimes the shortest way to detect an error or improve something is very simple: asking. Talking to the receivers (the CI should help them making better decisions) can give us other views about the design of the activity and the results there are being.
Monitors the indicators: As mentioned in a previous post, monitoring of indicators is essential to check the health of the system and detect possible deviations. They must be adequate to the project scope and there must be a responsible for monitoring.
Deliberate about decision making: What kinds of decisions are made in your organization? What opportunities or threats may be? Who makes the decisions of each type? What decisions have been made lately, and what has been the role of information in them? These type of questions can help you know why the CI is not proving to be the great input of information that you expected and what you have to do to be closer to the real needs of your environment.
Send newsletters: Newsletters are a great way of getting information to “passive” or “reactive” users, as well as a good way to collect the most interesting the CI is giving us. There must be a fixed periodicity for these newsletters and respect it whenever possible.
Talk to analysts: CI analysts are the ones who know what and how much information they are receiving. They should feel part of the system and see their work recognized to maintain high motivation. The results of the system depend on their work, so they should also be available to perform the assigned functions. If you take care of your analysts, you will have professionals who can contribute their knowledge in many aspects and situations.

If your CI system is not succeeding or you are going to launch a CI project, contact us and we will help you. Also, you can try a professional software like INNGUMA for free requesting a demo.

Attending trade fairs or Competitive Intelligence beyond the Internet

March 3, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

To a greater or lesser extent, all companies devote resources to know what´s new in their market and promote their products; trade fairs are a typical case. However, they often focus solely on making business contacts, establishing partnerships or promoting their brand, forgetting that the fairs are an essential source of information about competitors and their products.

From INNGUMA, we recommend to plan the fairs we will attend beforehand and in the same way, spend some time to make a preliminary analysis and make a report of it.

Pre-fair analysis

It is recommended to attend to trade fairs with a dossier prepared to guide us when we are there. In large fairs we can spend the day in the same hall ignoring the rest. This can be avoided by planning time correctly, analyzing competitors who will be there and defining priorities. In this way it is best to make a brief guide to help us focus on what´s important.

This guide may include logistics information, a map showing location of exhibitors, planned conferences, news and most relevant technologies to be presented, etc.

Trade fair

The main thing, obviously, is to obtain information of interest either collecting material, scoring the most interesting ideas or asking people. If more than one person to attend, taking a moment to share and contrast what has been seen is a healthy practice.

In addition to the exhibitors and product presentations, we must take into account the conferences, seminars, debates, etc. which can be organised in parallel to the fair.

As a recommendation during the stay at the fair, we must try to socialize with people, ask, exchange business cards and pay attention to all aspects. If we focus only on technical issues, we can lose more global issues as design.

Post-fair

Some content themselves with telling a story about the fair and how good food was at one of the restaurants in the destination city as if they were on a holiday trip.

We understand that the return of the fair is the time to do the hard work and leverage that information that has been acquired and transform it into knowledge for the whole organization. The main thing at this point is to analyse the relevant information, to contrast it, to identify the most relevant points and make a good report.

These are some of the contents a fair report could contain:

General conclusions: data, exposed technologies, organization reviews…
Conclusions concerning the initial objectives.
Summary of the events.
Significant news about products.
Technological trends.
Other trends.
Interesting remarks: business movements, new business models…
Additional information.

In conclusion, attendance to fairs is a different way to approach our environment, to visualise the reality and acquire more knowledge which from the internet would be much more complex or even impossible.

If you are thinking of launching CI activity in your organization and have doubts, you can contact us and we will help you. Also, you can try a professional software like INNGUMA for free requesting a demo.

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