The Death of the CI Professional - Competitive Intelligence
2024-03-28T08:48:25Z
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/forum/topics/the-death-of-the-ci?commentId=2036441%3AComment%3A22837&feed=yes&xn_auth=no
I'd like to make a modificati…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-06-12:2036441:Comment:23663
2009-06-12T17:01:15.316Z
Alli Marshall
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/AlliMarshall
I'd like to make a modification to my point above:<br />
* Decide that we are going to be the source of excellence for everything encompassed by our definition of CI<br />
<br />
Instead:<br />
* Decide where we are going to be the source of excellence for what is encompassed by our definition of CI and collaborate with other associations/disciplines to fill the gaps<br />
<br />
Perhaps another good question -- and probably more important before pushing forwards with anything else -- what are the changes that we need to make to…
I'd like to make a modification to my point above:<br />
* Decide that we are going to be the source of excellence for everything encompassed by our definition of CI<br />
<br />
Instead:<br />
* Decide where we are going to be the source of excellence for what is encompassed by our definition of CI and collaborate with other associations/disciplines to fill the gaps<br />
<br />
Perhaps another good question -- and probably more important before pushing forwards with anything else -- what are the changes that we need to make to reposition CI so that it can be absorbed by so many different disciplines? What has held us back in the past?
Thanks for the discussion Bil…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-06-12:2036441:Comment:23660
2009-06-12T16:38:31.214Z
Alli Marshall
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/AlliMarshall
Thanks for the discussion Bill and for the article Ken.<br />
<br />
<b>CI for everyone!</b><br />
I started an independent CI consulting practice up here in Alberta Canada just about 3 years ago. At the time, one of the biggest challenges that I faced was promoting a service that less that less than 10% of business people here had ever heard of, and I'd guess that less than 5% had an appreciation for what CI was.<br />
<br />
The approach that I've taken when giving presentations on CI is as follows. I will first ask who…
Thanks for the discussion Bill and for the article Ken.<br />
<br />
<b>CI for everyone!</b><br />
I started an independent CI consulting practice up here in Alberta Canada just about 3 years ago. At the time, one of the biggest challenges that I faced was promoting a service that less that less than 10% of business people here had ever heard of, and I'd guess that less than 5% had an appreciation for what CI was.<br />
<br />
The approach that I've taken when giving presentations on CI is as follows. I will first ask who has heard of CI -- there were very few hands at the start, but the percentage has grown encouragingly over the past few years. Then I will ask who is doing CI -- and most of the hands will drop.<br />
<br />
But then I will point out that since CI is just about studying your business environment to make better decisions -- that pretty much everyone in the room is doing CI on either a personal or professional level. I will point out that the discipline of CI is about providing tools, analysis methods, tricks, etc. to help support the audience's endeavours.<br />
<br />
The feedback from this approach has been really positive -- people are more interested in learning more and in finding out if there are skills from CI that can benefit what they're already doing.<br />
<br />
<b>What would this mean for us?</b><br />
I think a world in which CI skills and awareness are broadly distributed throughout organizations would serve all of us SCIP members and, even more importantly, would better serve the organizations as well. CI skills distributed throughout an organization doesn't have to mean death for full-time CI practitioners either within the organization or operating as consultants.<br />
<br />
Ultimately I think this would be a positive development for full-time CI practitioners -- as companies realized that they still needed a "CI champion" (as has been discussed on this site) or champions to ensure that the dispersed CI needs were being supported by enterprise information management, or to serve as a resource of CI excellence for other departments, or to coordinate with consultants on large projects, or to serve as a source of innovative CI practices for the whole company -- so that the CI champions are always searching for new ways to generate competitive advantage through the company's CI activities. And within the functions with large CI appetites -- sales, strategy, business development, marketing, etc. -- there could still be full-time CI folks. In smaller companies, there could still be full-time or part-time CI positions, and more SMEs would be able to benefit from CI activities.<br />
<br />
On the consulting side, having a large pool of business people who have some knowledge of CI (or whatever it will be called) and an appreciation for its importance, should result in more business. In this world, folks in the different domains will have more awareness of the CI options that are available to them and will inevitably come across projects where they need extra help -- whether it's in primary interviewing or specialized analytical methods.<br />
<br />
<b>What do we need to do?<br />
</b>Since this is the way that the world is already unfolding...and SCIP is in the midst of some strategic re-imagining...how can we bring the two together?<br />
<br />
We would certainly be offering something different from MRIA or SLA to advance a strategy where we sought to get an awareness of CI and CI training to as many business people as possible.<br />
<br />
A few things off the top of my mind...<br />
<br />
* Decide on a term -- I like insight, but have definitely seen growth in awareness of competitive intelligence as a term and it would be disappointing to lose that. What about "competitive insights"?<br />
<br />
* Get a definition of CI ironed out that we can all get behind -- if we're going to be applying this to a variety of domains we'd need to have a broad definition that is also accessible...maybe "analysis of an organization's business environment to generate competitive advantage in decision-making" or "generating insights about your business environment to make your organization more competitive"<br />
<br />
* Decide that we are going to be the source of excellence for everything encompassed by our definition of CI<br />
<br />
* In addition to a full-suite of courses for "CI champions", develop training courses that are domain-specific and that we could cross-market to other associations -- e.g. marketing CI, sales CI, M&A CI, product management CI, public-sector CI, not-for-profit CI...<br />
<br />
* In keeping with the distributed strategy -- get CI into every relevant business course -- even a mention of CI is a great place to start<br />
<br />
....<br />
<br />
<b>What do you think?<br />
</b>Is this where we should go? If so, what can each of us and SCIP do to help make it happen?
Hi Bill,
Thanks for an inter…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-05-31:2036441:Comment:22937
2009-05-31T15:29:59.111Z
Rob Duncan
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/RobDuncan
Hi Bill,<br />
<br />
Thanks for an interesting discussion. When I wrote my book, "Competitive Intelligence: Fast, Cheap & Ethical," my main motivation was to demystify and popularize CI techniques so they could be understood by everybody, including the solo entrepreneur who may never have studied business formally. I agree with Ken's observation that the future of CI may lie in it being diffused throughout an organization, forming a small part of many people's responsibilities.<br />
<br />
After teaching…
Hi Bill,<br />
<br />
Thanks for an interesting discussion. When I wrote my book, "Competitive Intelligence: Fast, Cheap & Ethical," my main motivation was to demystify and popularize CI techniques so they could be understood by everybody, including the solo entrepreneur who may never have studied business formally. I agree with Ken's observation that the future of CI may lie in it being diffused throughout an organization, forming a small part of many people's responsibilities.<br />
<br />
After teaching thousands of BCIT graduates that CI should be an instinctive and internalized way of being, regardless of their job function, I know there are a great many salespeople, marketers and entrepreneurs out there who now see intelligence as a free-floating asset all around them, one that can be gathered without too much effort or cost.<br />
<br />
I think it is better for a lot of people to know a little about CI than vice-versa. The challenge for us as a profession may be to popularize the disciplines of CI, rather than holding them too close to our chests. Cheers.. Rob
Ken - a really good article a…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-05-31:2036441:Comment:22927
2009-05-31T11:50:10.842Z
Arthur Weiss
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/ArthurWeiss
Ken - a really good article and analysis.<br />
<br />
In fact I think that the idea of a dedicated CI function has actually held back the practice of CI in some (many) companies as it's led to information silos which are the reverse of what good CI should actually be. Although you need dedicated information functions to get the ball rolling, when these become entrenched they become self-defeating as they risk becoming seen as a closed access repository of knowledge rather than the facilitator of knowledge…
Ken - a really good article and analysis.<br />
<br />
In fact I think that the idea of a dedicated CI function has actually held back the practice of CI in some (many) companies as it's led to information silos which are the reverse of what good CI should actually be. Although you need dedicated information functions to get the ball rolling, when these become entrenched they become self-defeating as they risk becoming seen as a closed access repository of knowledge rather than the facilitator of knowledge collection and dissemination.<br />
<br />
In an ideal situation, all members of a company should be contributing to the corporate CI - with the role of CI analysis not being the exclusive domain of an elite group of CI professionals. In a world where there is a need for supplier analysis, "know your customer" reports, competitive financial analysis, R&D benchmarking and more there is too much for a small group of CI professionals to do effectively. The CI professionals can't be expected to be experts in all these areas and so they become experts in nothing relevant to the organisation's detailed in-depth needs OR push to cover them all and become bloated, inefficient and costly. So no wonder organisations downgrade the CI function.<br />
<br />
I see the role of a CI professional as a facilitator - perhaps like the HR function - bringing the various types of knowledge the company needs to survive together so it can be accessed by whoever needs it. Their role is to help: purchasing produce supplier reports - analysed by purchasing experts; R&D to evaluate market innovations - interpreted by technical experts; and so on.<br />
<br />
That is one reason why we chose "marketing-intelligence.co.uk" as our domain name 12 years ago, rather than using the term "competitive-intelligence" - as CI, as i see it, is a function of the the intelligence organisations require to market their products and services profitably i.e. is a part of organizational marketing in its widest sense, rather than a narrow look at competitors only, or even the competitive environment.<br />
<br />
Having said this, there IS a role for CI professionals - as facilitators, trainers and integrators to help ensure effective organisational intelligence in the learning organisations of 2009+. It's just that this role is different to that of 1999 or 1989. In a web 2.0 enabled world, the concept of information sharing, collaboration and cooperation is seen as the way forward - and the <i>CI ivory tower</i> concept doesn't lend itself to this world.
Hi Mislav,
the Google Insigh…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-05-30:2036441:Comment:22866
2009-05-30T02:24:08.549Z
Jayanth
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/Jayanth
Hi Mislav,<br />
<br />
the Google Insight is really a great analysis tool. Demographically, now it s easy to dissect the place and now we can tailor the needs right from G-8 summit countries to BRIC countries.<br />
<br />
So, i really can't say that there is no actual death of CI professional... but, it just needs to be re-positioned in the minds of the decison-makers, that our support to their inevitable decision would be & should be THE BEST !
Hi Mislav,<br />
<br />
the Google Insight is really a great analysis tool. Demographically, now it s easy to dissect the place and now we can tailor the needs right from G-8 summit countries to BRIC countries.<br />
<br />
So, i really can't say that there is no actual death of CI professional... but, it just needs to be re-positioned in the minds of the decison-makers, that our support to their inevitable decision would be & should be THE BEST !
To add to Mislav's comment, a…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-05-29:2036441:Comment:22860
2009-05-29T18:39:26.192Z
Alan S. Michaels
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/AlanSMichaels
To add to Mislav's comment, another type of search can be done with LinkedIn, by Searching "Groups".<br />
<br />
It has the added benefit that results give number of Groups + number of people in each group<br />
<br />
For example, maybe use use terms like: "Competitive Intelligence", "Market Intelligence" , "Market Research" , .... and related fields like "Strategic Planning" and even "Business Intelligence" (which has the highest numbers).<br />
<br />
As for the main topic, for those worried about their CI future, as a…
To add to Mislav's comment, another type of search can be done with LinkedIn, by Searching "Groups".<br />
<br />
It has the added benefit that results give number of Groups + number of people in each group<br />
<br />
For example, maybe use use terms like: "Competitive Intelligence", "Market Intelligence" , "Market Research" , .... and related fields like "Strategic Planning" and even "Business Intelligence" (which has the highest numbers).<br />
<br />
As for the main topic, for those worried about their CI future, as a thought.... a good part of strategic planning and global marketing is: CI intelligence.<br />
<br />
P.S. - Anyone interested in moving into above two areas is welcome to join:<br />
LinkedIn group: "Corporate Planning & Global Industry Segmentation"<br />
or join a Ning for the same topic at <a href="http://corporateplanning.ecompetitors.com">http://corporateplanning.ecompetitors.com</a>
Hi, Mislav, you've convinced…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-05-29:2036441:Comment:22837
2009-05-29T11:47:04.382Z
Tadeusz Lemańczyk
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/TadeuszLemanczyk
Hi, Mislav, you've convinced me--your dark glasses are so convincing [Longman Interactive American Dictionary ©Addison Wesley Longman 1997--<i>People may say dark glasses rather than sunglasses when they mean to show that the person wearing them is trying not to be recognized, rather than trying to avoid the sun: <b>Do you suppose that man over there in dark glasses is an international spy?</b></i>]. ;-)<br />
<br />
Best,<br />
Tad<br />
<a href="http://fedcba.ning.com/">http://fedcba.ning.com/</a>
Hi, Mislav, you've convinced me--your dark glasses are so convincing [Longman Interactive American Dictionary ©Addison Wesley Longman 1997--<i>People may say dark glasses rather than sunglasses when they mean to show that the person wearing them is trying not to be recognized, rather than trying to avoid the sun: <b>Do you suppose that man over there in dark glasses is an international spy?</b></i>]. ;-)<br />
<br />
Best,<br />
Tad<br />
<a href="http://fedcba.ning.com/">http://fedcba.ning.com/</a>
One way of looking at popular…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-05-29:2036441:Comment:22834
2009-05-29T11:17:35.717Z
Mislav Jurisic
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/MislavJurisic
One way of looking at popularity of term of "Competitive intelligence" could be obtained looking at the relative number of searches of this term in google (at google insights)…
One way of looking at popularity of term of "Competitive intelligence" could be obtained looking at the relative number of searches of this term in google (at google insights) <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=%22business%20insights%22%2C%22consumer%20insights%22%2C%22market%20insights%22%2C%22research%20insights%22%2C%22competitive%20intelligence%22&cmpt=q">http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=%22business%20insights%22%2C%22consumer%20insights%22%2C%22market%20insights%22%2C%22research%20insights%22%2C%22competitive%20intelligence%22&cmpt=q</a>. I used terms like "business insights" ,<br />
"consumer insights" , "market insights" , "research insights". I understand this could be influenced by some companies names and not everyone searches on google but still gives a big picture.
I can add a different perspec…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-05-29:2036441:Comment:22826
2009-05-29T07:00:18.550Z
Tristan Sternson
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/TristanSternson
I can add a different perspective on this having also had a strong Enterprise Information Management (EIM) background which is an area within organisations that is beginning to take a real interest in Competitive Intelligence to add to their stack of capabilities given the common theme of data and information analysis. There are many synergies between where we are at with CI with various other aspects of EIM. Most areas within EIM have at some stage gone from being a business unit lead function…
I can add a different perspective on this having also had a strong Enterprise Information Management (EIM) background which is an area within organisations that is beginning to take a real interest in Competitive Intelligence to add to their stack of capabilities given the common theme of data and information analysis. There are many synergies between where we are at with CI with various other aspects of EIM. Most areas within EIM have at some stage gone from being a business unit lead function within an organisation subscribed as a service by the overall organisation through to an organisation wide deployment of a capability, in many instances involving a large technology component.<br />
<br />
If CI follows this trajectory then I see the role of skilled CI professionals becoming even more important as it has the potential of becoming a critical service to a larger volume of users. The CI practitioner becomes as CI Subject Matter Expert, or as I heard it called yesterday a CI Champion. The success of rolling out this capabilities hinges on the expertise of people who know how to analyse the information? How to measure the quality and accuracy of the information? How to categorise information? And quite simply how decide what is intelligence and how to use it? The big challenge here is that CI could become a part of many employees job role.<br />
<br />
I have seen many projects fail because they have neglected the core function and deployed a capability organisation wide without the right people to champion the capability, train and guide users and analyse and interpret the information. Involving CI experts high up in the governance structure helps mitigate this risk.
Read "McKinsey for positionin…
tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-05-29:2036441:Comment:22810
2009-05-29T05:09:59.368Z
Vivek Raghuvanshi
https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/VivekRaghuvanshi
Read "McKinsey for positioning them in India" as "McKinsey was positioning them in India".
Read "McKinsey for positioning them in India" as "McKinsey was positioning them in India".