What are the top challenges with regards to Competitive Intelligence?

Recently, I saw a LinkedIn question that asked,

What are the top challenges with regards to competitive intelligence in Pharma at the moment?
I'm putting together a Pharma industry conference on the subject and would like to hear what's hot in the area at the moment.

My answer, which I presented in form of a letter, explains how important ROI and visibility have become. It wasn’t long ago that the topics were ethics and espionage (and those topics still get mileage), but thought leaders (individual and organizational) seem to be thinking more about effectiveness than methods.

The response is included below:

Ms. Ojewale,

I'm more of a CI practitioner than Pharma industry expert. That said, I believe that many of the challenges in your industry are typical of many others.

One of the problems inherent in CI is trying to make sure that the information you obtain will be used effectively to drive change that:

1. Strengthens a competitive position with an existing product
2. Finds new markets or uses for a product
3. Helps create new products that meet an unforeseen need.

In other words, if CI isn’t producing revenue or leading to the revenue path, it may not be as worthwhile as you might think.

The second problem is trying to convince change agents (senior management) that the intelligence should be used to create business change. This is a widespread problem that causes companies to under-leverage their CI efforts. Too often, the intelligence is judged as trivial. If the intelligence confirms something that the executive already knows, the information is devalued. If the intelligence shows something unexpected, too often, it is dismissed due to the fact that someone in an executive office knows better than a CI analyst.

To understand the significance of this problem, you’ll note that the Society for Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) hosted a conference earlier this month for CI professionals. The topics they intend to cover do not address any of the “how to gather CI issues.” Instead, their list of topics focuses on making CI relevant, getting CI noticed and meshing with upper management’s needs.

· Allocating resources
· Strategic internal positioning of CI
· Understanding and meeting upper management needs
· Hiring and retaining CI talent
· Ensuring success: Promoting your department
· Establishing measurable objectives (ROI)
· Vehicles for communicating CI

(For more information: http://members.scip.org/scriptcontent/BeWeb/events/eventdetail.cfm?&PRODUCT_MAJOR=BPFORUM907)

These ideas seem to encompass much of what is being discussed in the professional CI ranks. Thought leaders are leaning toward the topics of relevance, effectiveness, ROI, etc…

This Thursday, Primary Intelligence will host a webinar based on making sure that Competitive Intelligence makes a difference. If you would like to attend a no-cost webinar on Thursday, 9/27 at 2pm ET, register HERE.