Competitive Intelligence..Inside is best
Just the other day I was invited to speak locally at a competitive intelligence conference. These practitioner were very intrigued by the whole concept of innovation and the philosophical efforts therein to accelerate and harmonize the process of producing product and services that people actually want.( Let us remember that 80% of product launches are failures). In my view (and theirs) timely competitive intelligence should be an important part of the “innovation algorithm.”
Sources of competitive information cover the gamut and range from web sites, to analyst reports, to primary research to web searches. There is one source, however, that is often overlooked and that is a company’s own internal activities. The larger the organization the more competitive intelligence that is available for analysis, mining, comparing, etc…
The difficulty is in capturing and sharing this information. Therefore the easy and high level answer is to implement a knowledge management/sharing platform internally that is able of capturing and sharing this information. Most importantly, however, is the need to empower employees to share this information - perhaps in anonymity if need be.
Much as the “data” generated by systems is becoming the most relevant monetizable assets, so goes perhaps with the knowledge generated inside corporations. There is immense value in this knowledge but only if shared.
I know, easier said than done but essential.
Sources of competitive information cover the gamut and range from web sites, to analyst reports, to primary research to web searches. There is one source, however, that is often overlooked and that is a company’s own internal activities. The larger the organization the more competitive intelligence that is available for analysis, mining, comparing, etc…
The difficulty is in capturing and sharing this information. Therefore the easy and high level answer is to implement a knowledge management/sharing platform internally that is able of capturing and sharing this information. Most importantly, however, is the need to empower employees to share this information - perhaps in anonymity if need be.
Much as the “data” generated by systems is becoming the most relevant monetizable assets, so goes perhaps with the knowledge generated inside corporations. There is immense value in this knowledge but only if shared.
I know, easier said than done but essential.
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