Can SharePoint be Used to Assist
CI?
Part of
our competitive intelligence work at Cipher is
integrating our proprietary competitive intelligence
software system into organizations across
industries. During our 12 years of operation, we
have seen increasing interest in how Microsoft’s
SharePoint platform might be used to assist with our
clients’ competitive intelligence technology needs.
This article assesses the compatibility of the
SharePoint 2007 architecture and its key functional
components with the primary user requirements of
competitive intelligence professionals across
industry sectors.
Syndicated Research Providers
End-User Survey Results
For many years, competitive
intelligence and market research professionals have
relied on a wide range of publications to monitor
and extract information in their respective industry
sectors. But the rapid growth of the electronic
publishing field means that there are more providers
than ever before. And for many users, the world of
digital content publishing is confusing and often
overwhelming. Which vendors provide the greatest
value, and by what standard?
Recently, internet usage has shifted towards more
consumer interaction, content sharing, and
collaboration, creating a more multi-directional
information flow. One of the most obvious examples
of this shift is the arrival of social networking
sites. Often these networks permit you to create
permanent profiles that display biographical
information or
serve as a reference or contact point. How can they
assist your CI work?
In competitive
intelligence, as in other fields, success comes more
easily if you do the proper planning first. Planning
is particularly important for competitive
intelligence projects relating to Asia. But how much
planning is enough; and what kind?
A
Cipher's client on the software selection process.
Summary
of Cipher's FREE end user survey and comparison
report of the fee-based news aggregator market in
2008.
This
article describes the 6 fundamental requirements to
creating and maintaining a global experts database
to utilize for effective competitive intelligence
and strategic research.
Journalism articles and competitive intelligence
projects alike require more than just secondary
sources, or desk research. Too often, secondary
information is sparse or non-existent, particularly
when you write about a new technology or industry
segment in an emerging market. In other cases, your
CI customer wants the immediacy of first-hand data,
whether in the form of survey results or detailed
quotations from telephone interviews with subject
matter experts. This article provides some
suggestions on how you can draw on journalistic
techniques to “get the scoop” and then write up the
facts in a clear, accurate, and compelling form.
The
field of competitive intelligence has become an
increasingly global industry, with CI groups
establishing branch offices in major cities around
the world. The use of subject-matter experts (SMEs)
who can provide the specialized expertise needed to
meet customer strategic research requirements is
particularly important for CI practitioners working
in highly specialized technical fields. And for
Competitive Intelligence groups that provide
early-warning intelligence, having a network of
experts “on the ground” makes it possible to provide
faster, more thorough coverage in real time. In this
article, we'll highlight best practices that will
enable you to create and manage an effective global
competitive intelligence and strategic intelligence
network.
Being tasked with
finding the right CI software solution for your
organization can be an overwhelming process. Dealing with prospective
clients on this subject every day, Cipher finds
similar questions need to be asked in every
situation. Here are the ten steps that can assist
you in selecting the right competitive intelligence
software for your organization.
Although most CI
professionals work in a centralized CI environment,
many of today’s companies are seeking to provide a
more decentralized function, but may not know how.
We’ll look at some of the key challenges faced by
our colleagues in decentralized environments, and
what best practices exist to make this functionality
more successful.
If you’ve ever been
responsible for coordinating the collection of
Competitive Intelligence during conferences and trade shows, you know how
overwhelming an experience it can be. In this article, Cipher
shares some common issues others have faced, key
lessons learned, and recommendations to make your
own process easier and less stressful.
RSS technology can
make your job easier by offering some significant
advantages over previous electronic news delivery
methods. This column reviews what RSS is and how you
can use it to simplify the automation of your
everyday information search and retrieval tasks.
See also our white paper: "Content
Syndication Technologies RSS Unmasked"
The
“controversial” nature of Competitive Intelligence
(CI) seems to be due to a series of common and
recurrent mistakes repeated over time by business
professionals. The following summary provides an
overview of some of the most common pitfalls that
seem to be partially responsible for perpetuating
the controversial “nature” of CI in corporate
organizations. It also provides a few
recommendations to break the cycle and help you
establish a successful strategic research function
in your organization.
Every day we face ethical dilemmas, and we need
guidelines outside of our own moral compass to chart
the right course. This is particularly true in the
field of competitive intelligence (CI). Having a
well-thought-out, documented code of ethics for your
CI function, reviewed and approved by your
organization’s legal counsel, is one of the first
key steps in formalizing guidelines.
Vast amounts of information are
gathered in the
Competitive
Intelligence industry. This
information is compiled into reports and
communicated to the end user. After this data has
outlived its usefulness it must be disposed of in a
professional, legal, and environmentally safe
manner. This article suggests some best practices in
this area.
There are seven key
steps to implementing a successful Competitive
Intelligence function. Critical success factors
include auditing existing processes, setting
expectation, establishing credibility, acting
ethically, encouraging involvement, showing
progress, highlighting success and choosing the right
staff.
The basic principals of electronic
content management security are partially
physically-driven and partially technology-driven.
They are all underlined by common sense. Following
the tips highlighted in this article will help you
better protect your electronic assets and ensure
they are kept out of the hands of your competitors.
Field
personnel are an invaluable source of intelligence. How this information is
elicited will ultimately determine the quality and
usefulness of your data. Based on past experience,
the three critical factors to successfully gain
primary information from field personnel are: elicit
leadership buy in, promote CI efforts mapped to
sales campaigns, and usage of existing communication
channels.
Subscription news
services and content aggregators play a major role
in
competitive intelligence and market research.
It is important to assess
your news needs and then look across the full
spectrum of electronic reporting to construct the
best content management plan for your organization.
Does the perfect
competitive intelligence software really
exist? Relying on a survey of fifty Fortune 500
companies, the definition of perfect varies widely
based on certain factors. There are generally two
sets of factors affecting
CI software: organizational and cultural, and
system-centric factors. This article provides a breakdown
of the most prevalent verticals with examples of
leading technology providers. You can map these
verticals to your organizational and cultural, and
system-centric needs to create a
Competitive Intelligence Software blueprint
that best matches your organization’s
competitive intelligence needs.
Useful
competitive intelligence deliverables, as
prepared by research analysts, must adhere to strict
quality and formatting guidelines.
Discussed here are four examples of deliverables
that can be greatly enhanced using today’s latest
technologies: KIT-KIQ framework,
private company profiles,
market assessments, and SWOT analysis.
As borders open up
and demand for sophisticated western technologies
and practices increase, regions such as Eastern
Europe and Asia-Pacific increasingly become the
targets of interest for US companies looking to
further expand overseas. But, those who want to be
successful in these areas not only have to outsmart
their competitors, they have to understand the
particulars of working in these nations; this
includes understanding government regulations, local
customs, provincial differentiating factors and
more. Consequently, uncovering all of the critical
challenges and opportunities in these nations and
molding competitive intelligence practice to fit the
area under scrutiny are both vital components of
global research.
Digital dashboard
technology – more specifically,
CI dashboard technology – continues to evolve
into a crucial tool to help users visualize and
monitor critical indicators related to
competitor analysis.
Several CI industry
surveys have been done to evaluate the prevalent
Competitive Intelligence tools available.
These surveys mostly offer a cookie cutter approach
at best. The most important viewpoint missing from
these surveys is that of the CI practitioner.
Competitive intelligence software
is an essential tool in today’s increasingly complex
competitive environment. There are two main
CI software categories available: Enterprise
solutions and stand-alone software. This article
discusses the pros and cons of each type of
Competitive Intelligence Software.
Competitive intelligence
continues to struggle in its effort to be recognized
as a mainstream strategic business discipline. CI
professionals must learn how to interject their
daily research activities into the decision-making
process of their respective organizations.
This article discusses the three principals to
establishing an effective Competitive Intelligence
Support System for your sales force. These are:
Provide relevant tactical intelligence that can help
them generate revenue; don’t create any additional
work; and implement an effective incentive system.
Following these tenets will help you establish a
system that will work well for both sides.
Different types of
intelligence require different delivery mechanisms.
One of the solutions to delivering effective and
timely intelligence is implementing a delivery
mechanism adapted to each competitive intelligence
category, including recurrent reports, reference
intelligence such as company profiles and strategic
and tactical intelligence, such as M&A due
diligence.
Strategic competitive research
templates are an extremely effective tool for
building practical CI skills.
Templates can also be used to help analysts publish
professional
competitive intelligence reports that meet
management’s expectations.
Medical conferences constitute a
key information source for competitive intelligence
in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.
Effective use of technology can enhance your
competitive intelligence gathering capabilities. This article
highlights the key issues and questions to consider
when you are evaluating a competitive intelligence software package to assist
with your conference collection efforts.
With the explosion of digital
content over the last few decades, copyright issues
and concerns have grown exponentially. Digital
content often serves to further complicate the
already complex issue of managing copyright
compliance. This article focuses on raising
awareness about the types of digital content that
may require a closer look from a copyright
perspective by a special librarian. We also identify
current views about digital copyright and share
examples and sources that may help today's special
librarians navigate their way through the copyright
maze.
|
