Competitive Intelligence

Intelligence 2.0: Creating New Business Models–SLA 2009

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Asymmetric information models are passé and information interpretation is NOW: the ability to understand and anticipate! Many of the models and processes that we use to collect competitive intelligence and conduct our various forms of analysis–including voice of the customer and market research–do not lead to innovation. So often these processes concentrate on what customers “want” rather than what they “need,” and they don’t know what they need. Innovation is most easily defined as productivity. Yet innovation is a sloppy process. Employees innovate best within a culture of “learning and growing from mistakes” rather than being punished for making mistakes. Learn how to articulate the truth in ways that management will listen (cooperative leadership).

Competitive Intelligence at SLA 2009 & Other Favorites

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Just before SCIP09, we shared a list of 10 things we wanted to do while at the conference, so in the spirit of cooperative intelligence, I’ll share the talks in the Competitive Intelligence Track and some of my favorites at SLA2009, which takes place in the Washington, DC Convention Center June 14 – 17.

Just How Social is Social Networking?

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In most cases on LinkedIn, it’s a loose connection, and you’ll never hear from that person again unless they want to sell you something, fill jobs or find a job. Yet I do connect with many of my pals and meet new people who share my interests on Twitter and we do engage through tweets, albeit with the 140 character limitation. The pendulum is swinging back to more traditional marketing for me since I still get more business from word of mouth marketing and referrals from existing customers and friends.

What’s the Future of SCIP and the Competitive Intelligence Profession?

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Competitive intelligence is not recognized enough to keep SCIP afloat on its own. Many companies include competitive intelligence as part of other business functions which are well defined: product planning, strategic planning, marketing, PR, sales, R&D, but CI really isn’t perceived as a discipline in many companies. SCIP also faces competition in CI from other associations and social networks. I hope SCIP turns on its marketing machine with urgency and reaches out to companies and individuals and educate them on the compelling value of conducting systematic CI. I hope that SCIP’s leadership is reading the CI Ning. There are so many good ideas posted, so SCIP has a great opportunity to listen and query these individuals more closely and engage them to be part of the solution.

Let’s Give SCIP a Second Chance

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Like many I was disturbed by the suddenness with which we were presented with this bad news: SCIP was facing such financial difficulty that an infusion of cash was expedient, and we better vote YES to keep SCIP in business. I think we all venefit the most by having one body to represent CI, so I hope that SCIP remains in business. We all win if SCIP moves forward and continues to support the competitive intelligence profession.

Let’s Hear it for Librarians in Competitive Intelligence!

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Many of us in CI are very good at digging up good insightful data and providing relevant analysis. We’re not so good at the human issues of connection and communication, which is where librarians run circles around many of us. Librarians get where their role is in the company, that it’s evolving and provide it with a spirit of service and giving. They also know what they don’t know and learn about it.

Competitive Intelligence Starts with Your Company

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Often in competitive intelligence we’re so busy looking externally at the competition and market conditions that we forget to consider how we can improve our own operation by investigating ourselves. Before I look at a company’s competitors, I always like to take a long look at the company which hired me. Their operation, including their management’s behavior and motivation, becomes my yardstick to consider as I learn about the competition.

Competitive Technical Intelligence (CTI) Released at #SCIP09 in Chicago

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Competitive Technical Intelligence focuses on science and technology (S&T) and provides methods and tools to help companies, labs and governments maintain a technical competitive edge. CTI often provides the longest future look at your competition versus other forms of competitive intelligence such as sales, product and financial. Order your copy of the recently released Competitive Technical Intelligence book through Bonnie Hohhof (bhohhof@scip.org).

Are We in a Rut in Competitive Intelligence Innovation? #SCIP09 Post-conference

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More of the innovation that people shared was around process which involved social networking and more sophisticated monitoring and analysis tools. The cost of information acquisition is really inexpensive today even compared to 10 years ago, so companies can afford to text mine and use tools that provide visualization at a reasonable cost. We concluded that industry norms can be a deterrent to sharing innovation. However, as we build our human networks and develop trust, we often share our innovation with others, either one on one or among a smaller group.

© 2026 Ellen Naylor