Bonnie Hohhof of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) issued another collection of Competitive Intelligence (CI) articles and resources in the new SCIP newsletter.

The newsletter features: Articles mentioning competitive intelligence. Internet sites with CI information to use. Searching news and tips. Software and products. General CI links and readings of interest.

Work.com is a new small to medium business platform for professionals to share their expertise in many business fields. It belongs to business.com, a very useful business directory.

As a first contribution at work.com I published an article on Establishing a Market & Competitive Intelligence Function. Abstracts:

1. Determine Demand
What do we need to know in order to make decisions?
How will this information be used?
What questions or problems will it help us solve?
Who needs the information?

2. Intelligence Supply
How do we gather data?
What are the reporting and analytical processes?

3. Application, Implementation
What do you do differently as a result of this information?
What type of value can we achieve from using this information?

Goals:
- Cost savings through efficient use of intelligence (avoiding search)
- Cost savings through increased risk/damage control
- Cost savings through globally managed reports acquisition, avoiding duplication
- Cost savings through avoidance of multiple intelligence tasks
- Productivity increase through reduction of material to be consumed and increased user-friendliness / standardization
- Sales increase through improved customer call preparations
- Revenue increase through sales loss avoidance
- Increased profitability through early adoption to new market opportunities (early market access, created markets justify higher margins)

Read the full article here... Please comment and discuss.

I while back I wrote an article on the benefits of competitive intelligence at MarkIntell.com.

"Market Intelligence, if brought to action, will reduce overhead and focus your marketing and sales efforts on front line issues. Providing a constant mirror of your external impact and market opportunities promotes and strengthens priorities that will lead to action in the field...read the entire article"

The article focuses on these major benefits:

• Identification of new opportunities - e.g. identify new trends before our markets and competitors
• Early warning of competitor moves - enable counter measures
• Minimizing investment risks - detect threats and trends early on
• Better customer interaction - inherit intensified customer market view
• Better market selection & positioning - understand where your offer fits and discover untapped or under-served potential
• Quicker, more efficient and cost-effective information - avoid duplication of report acquisitions and expensive consultant work

Please feel free to comment and add your view, looking forward to a discussion about your applied benefits.