Forward-thinking Competitive Intelligence

I read a blog entry about “reactionary competitive intelligence” that you ought to read. It is simple, but makes a strong point.:

Follow The Leader
Have you worked at a company where a significant share of the business strategy is determined by what competitors are doing?

Have you worked on a product plan that includes features based not necessarily on what your customers have asked for, but based on what your competitors already have?

Have you bought ad space in a magazine because that's where your competitors are advertising as well?

Assuming that our competitors know what they're doing is a dangerous game. Assuming your company has the right ingredients and circumstances to match or exceed their success is an equally slippery slope.

Competitive intelligence is critical, and identifying elements of a competitor's business and marketing strategy for further review and testing is a great idea.

But do your own homework. Know your customers, your industry, and your business better than anyone else. Don't just follow the leader. (Matt Heinz, Matt on Marketing)

Does your company culture and leadership support a forward-thinking intelligence strategy? Are you encouraged to scout out a trail to new ground or is your time dominated by reactionary “what just happened” questions?

You can discern your company’s cultural bias easily by answering the following questions for yourself:

-Do competitive surprises throw us into a frenzy or do we hold the course on our own strategy?
-Does our CI strategy remain constant or does it change with the blowing winds of businsess?
-Do we study way to increase business and retain contracts or are we more concerned with knowing trivial facts about the competition?
-Does our company use cutting-edge analytics or do we still make decisions based on gut feeling alone?

If your organization is stable and includes the support of leadership, you are poised to do good work and your efforts will have to match expectations. If not (and if you want to be forward thinking), you are going to have to work very hard to change the current scenario. Otherwise, you risk becoming an order taker with no end in sight. And, those people who bring interesting, but non-impactful, information to the table usually don’t go very far.

And, if that assessment is too harsh, my apologies. But, I have a great deal of respect for those CI professionals that don’t settle for trivialities, but work to find the strategic areas of opportunity for their company. The highest rung on the ladder is reserved for those that have the experience, clout and voice to insist that the intelligence be used in the executive boardroom for decisions.

Let me know what you think. I would like to hear from you (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801.838.9600 x5050)