Effective Competitive Intelligence - Problem 4: Communication

In my last post, I started talking again about effective competitive intelligence. Again, my definition of effectiveness is:

– Strengthen your company’s position
• How is our value proposition perceived?
• What is the competition doing?
• Which industry-wide best practices will truly apply?
– Discover new markets
• What is possible with new technologies?
• Where should we steer the company?
– Develop new products/services/solutions
• What problems do our clients experience that we can address?

One of the biggest complaints of Competitive Intelligence generators and users alike is the fact that intelligence, information and knowledge in general is lost in the shuffle. In fact, according to an Accenture study:

53% of obtained information is worthless

31% say that it Competitive Intelligence is hard to get at

57% have to go to numerous sources to compile necessary intelligence

45% can’t find information on other departments’ activities

42% accidentally use the wrong information once per week

40% say other parts of the company won’t share information

59% say there is poor distribution of information

Many of these problems are the result of poor corporate communication.


In summary, we find that intelligence suffers from the fact that organized distribution channels don’t exist (If a tree falls in the woods…).

If you have created a quality library of information, its value is compromised by the fact that people:

Don’t know it exists

Can’t read it

Don’t like the way it is distributed

This same topic was addressed in our recent webinar which can be downloaded HERE.

How do you solve this problem?

1. Start with intelligence that means something to others.
2. Speak with a loud voice and be available to others in decision-making posts
3. Find internal champions
4. Determine that the intelligence will be received and reviewed

You’ll note that I haven’t mentioned anything about content management systems or other technologies. Before you can install software to distribute intelligence, you have to create a hunger for it and establish communication channels that work. Otherwise, you’re likely to spend quite a bit of money on software that will lie dormant most of the time.

If you have a success story with overcoming the communication barrier, drop me a note. I’m always interested in examples of success, no matter how small they may seem (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050)