What resources and tools do you use to do a company profile - Competitive Intelligence2024-03-28T09:21:15Zhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/forum/topics/what-resources-and-tools-do-you-use-to-do-a-company-profile?feed=yes&xn_auth=noRichard,
I am going to assum…tag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2014-03-06:2036441:Comment:952322014-03-06T17:24:01.600ZTrip Kranthttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/TripKrant
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Richard,</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I am going to assume there is a distinction between company profiles and competitor profiles for you. I like to structure models so that they can be nested – an analytical system of systems if you will.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Generally speaking, I'll first decompose the target company into three network overlays: physical, organizational,…</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Richard,</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I am going to assume there is a distinction between company profiles and competitor profiles for you. I like to structure models so that they can be nested – an analytical system of systems if you will.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Generally speaking, I'll first decompose the target company into three network overlays: physical, organizational, and information.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The physical network is frequently just extracting the companies physical locations – offices, factories, etc – from the their webpage. The organizational layer is the corporate and organizational structure – again from the company webpage, but LinkedIn and other APIs are helpful. The information layer is the target companies presence on the web – this can get very granular if need be – from basic homepages and social media accounts to developing targets for bots and spiders.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">All this information decomposed into a network graph of nodes and links for visualization – node properties available by clicking on them. Consolidating the layers builds a decent overview of the company. This overview guides and drives further intelligence collection.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">They key here is automation – which I haven't been able to do fully - but by tapping APIs and some basic programming hacks, I can cut the time and effort down considerably. Likewise automated steps can be re-run at future dates to pick up what has changed.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But irregardless of ones computer wizardry, I believing building-out such a model significantly improves collection targeting and the analytic process down the road. Additional network layers and models can be built out from here – and gaps easily identified. The process is conductive to an iterative and recursive intelligence cycle.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The benefit of synthesizing the collected information into a target network model comes at the analysis stage and in developing the finished product – the information is right there in context to derive answers from.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This company profile can be used in developing a competitor profile. Likewise, the target network model fits into my analytical system-of-systems – the company/competitor network model being nested in a nine-forces network model. But that is beyond the scope of your question, and is something I have been meaning to blog about.</p>