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Are there any common problems with the use of Competitive Intelligence?
Home » Careers » Competitive Intelligence » Are there any common problems with the use of Competitive Intelligence?Posted by Your Guide on January 18, 2006 3:59 PM
CI can undoubtedly offer your business an advantage over your competitors, but there are certain things you’ll want to avoid as you implement your CI program:
• Inadequate planning: This is probably the most common problem for businesses that attempt to perform their own CI inquiries. As you’ll discover if you begin to thoroughly research your competitors, a wealth of information is available for your review. Given that fact, it’s easy for a company without a pre-established framework to gather far too much information. Awash in a sea of facts and figures, you’ll find it difficult to glean truly important data.
• Unethical data collection: Without knowing the legal and ethical boundaries that guide CI professionals, it’s easy for a company to stray from those guidelines in an attempt to gather information on its rivals. Using a reputable CI provider to conduct your CI work or train your employees can help you avoid this problem.
• Poor analysis framework: Even if you plan properly and collect data of the proper type in usable amounts, you’ll struggle to properly use that data without a sound system of analysis. Classifying pieces of information on another company as strengths, weaknesses and opportunities is a common way of enhancing data analysis, but you can use any technique that helps your decision makers receive data in a format that allows for rapid analysis.
• Inadequate dissemination: This, again, relates to the planning that should accompany the implementation of any CI program. It’s not enough to possess a detailed listing of your preferred data and a framework for organization and analysis. You’ll still struggle to make effective use of your CI data if you lack a procedure for quickly funneling that information to the right employees.
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